More on Dutch coins

More on Dutch coins

When I was in Majestic market, South Jakarta, I saw a vendor
of used articles selling coins dating back from the Dutch
colonial times.

I bought a coin with a nominal value of two and a half Dutch
guilders or a ringgit, in Indonesian, which in those days was
worth US$1. The coin, minted in 1937, ten years after my birth,
is still in a fine condition as it was circulated only until the
Dutch Indies administration surrendered to the Japanese
occupational forces in 1942. Besides, this coin rarely changed
hands because indigenous people rarely had it.

Then I found among the vendor's coins, in a worn-out
condition, a coin of 2.5 cents denomination, popularly known as a
benggol in Indonesian. It is made of copper and still looks good.
When I looked at it more closely, I found that it was minted in
1945, the year when the Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed.
Most probably, the coin was then yet to be put into circulation.

The Dutch words "Nederlandsch Indie, 2.5 cent" are inscribed
on one side of the coin and on the other side there is a Javanese
inscription reading "Sapara patangpuluh rupiyah" (one-fortieth of
a rupiah) and an Arabic inscription, which I cannot read.

Unlike the benggol coin, the ringgit coin has the following
inscription in Dutch: "Munt van het Koningkrijk (old spelling)
der Nederlanden, 2.5 G, 1937:" on one side and on the other side
there is another Dutch inscription reading "Wilhelmina Koningin
der Nederlanden."

The ringgit coin has no Javanese inscription on it perhaps
because the Dutch colonial ruler thought the Javanese and the
Madurese would only use coins of 1/2 cent, 1 cent and 2.5 cents
denomination, as John Iskandar wrote in The Jakarta Post of April
3, 2001.

SUNARTO PRAWIROSUJANTO

Jakarta