500 Gulden Kopergeld

De Javasche Bank, established in Batavia in 1828 by royal charter from Willem I, began issuing copper-backed paper money — kopergeld — as a practical solution to the chronic coin shortage in the Dutch East Indies. Metal currency drained steadily toward China and Arabia through trade, leaving the colonial economy perpetually short of transactional instruments. The copper designation was not decorative; notes were theoretically backed by copper stocks held in the colony rather than silver or gold.

The 1832 series remains among the earliest surviving issues from this bank. Very few high-denomination examples are known to have circulated widely — at 500 Gulden, this note represented a sum far beyond ordinary commerce in the Indies at the time.