Indonesian money is quite appealing to collect.

The coins are generally of no interest, although there are some silver and gold commemorative proof coins that are nice, and collectible.

Basically due to high inflation and the poor economy of Indonesia, coins have not played much part in the history of Indonesia.

On the other hand, there is a huge amount of paper money that has been issued, and culturally it is much more significant, given that the smallest note has historically been worth a fraction of a US$, and the largest note is only worth $10, everything is done using big bundles of lovely cash (which changed quite frequently, making a collection of several hundred different notes)

On top of that, you can assemble a collection of most of the money quite cheaply, especially more recent issues (say 1964 and onwards).

To my mind the recent money is not as attractive as the old, but perhaps this is because of inflation.

Probably the two nicest/most popular sets of money are the 1957 animals series and the 1959 flowers and birds series.

The 1959 series (5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000) is very affordable, with no real rarities.

http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-65.JPG

Only the 500 (market price $60 in UNC) in and 1000 (market price $20-$30 UNC) rupiah notes should cost any more than $5 in UNC condition. Of course if you are willing to buy inferior quality notes you can pick up a full set cheaply.

The 1957 series is much more of a collector's prize. Firstly, collectors love the animal themes on these notes. Secondly, there are some very rare notes in this series.

http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-49.JPG

The full set is 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 2500. In addition there was a 5000 rupiah note that was not issued, but is available as a specimen note. For whatever reason, the bank recalled the 10 and 25 rupiah notes after only 3 days. This makes these two notes very rare in issued condition. The price for these two is about $1000 each. The specimens cost less because they tend to be in better condition and also better supply.

For the normal collector, the 5 (gibbon), 50 (crocodile), 100 (squirrel), 500 (tiger), 1000 (elephant) and 2500 (iguana) rupiah notes are therefore available.

Although the 2500 rupiah is given the highest Pick value, the 500 actually seems to be the scarcest.

All the notes sell well above their catalogue value due to wide collector appeal. Market prices are, approximately, 5 rp - $8 UNC, 50 rp $40 UNC, 100 rp $30 UNC, 500 rp $200 UNC, 1000 rp $150, 2500 rp $150 UNC. If you want to assemble a collection for less, than you can get the more expensive notes for about $30 in nice VF condition.

One of the other 1950s series, the 1952 notes are in quite short supply now. These have some nice geometric designs:

http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-42.JPG

If you want choice uncirculated notes, you may have to wait a while and pay premium prices.

Most other post 1950 notes are quite cheap, with the highest denominations generally most expensive.

1945-1949 Indonesia money is in a different category, because Indonesia was fighting with the Netherlands, so the quality of these notes is low. This 1945 1 rupiah is one of the more attractive, given this context

http://aes.iupui.edu/rwise/banknotes/indon...piah-1945_f.jpg

There were a total of four series in this period: 1945, 1947 (first issue), 1947 (second issue), and 1948. In addition to these, the Dutch Administration issued 10 and 25 sen notes which continued to be used by Indonesia after independence in 1947:

http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-31.JPG

A series of notes was also prepared for 1949 of 'rupiah baru' (new rupiah), but was not issued. These can find a place in Indonesian money collections, but outside of the 100 rp note (supply of these to the market is high - possibly counterfeits), all are very scarce.

Of this period, the 1945 and 1947 money can be obtained with just a little patience. The 1948 money, on the other hand, is very hard to get hold of. The most common note seen is the 400 rupiah, but all notes I have seen sold are counterfeits.

In this period, about 35 districts in Indonesia issued their own designs of emergency money. The quality is generally very low. Supply can also be very poor. Assembling a complete collection is a difficult and time-consuming task, and the money itself does not have the same appeal (some only applied to a few thousand people). There are several hundred different notes to collect, and most collectors will not bother.

In Indonesian money, you can also consider the Netherlands Indies paper money, as this was the predecessor to Indonesia (the last notes are dated 1946). Some of this dates back to the 19th century, but the stuff commonly found on the market usually dates from 1920-1946. There is also Japanese Invasion Money, which apart from a rare unissued 1000rp note, is very cheap indeed due to the massive quantities printed by the Japanese. If you are going to collect this money you will have to contend with the lack of supply (modern Indonesian money is far more plentiful), and also prices which tend to start at a higher level. Due to the passage of time (money destroyed), as well as the action of war (money was destroyed when the Japanese invaded), and the 1950 demonetization of old money, prices for many notes are in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Compared to this, truly expensive Indonesian money is a small percentage of the total population. There are of course a few pricey unissued specimens: 1948 600 rp, 1948 SBNC 'Republik Indonesia' series, 1949 SBNC 'Indonesia Serikat' series, 1957 5000 rp, and 1975 Diponegoro specimens.

But if you stick to issued money, the only $100+ notes (providing you are willing to compromise on condition, going below UNC to say VF) in your collection would be the the 1957 10 and 25 rp. Even the rare pre-1950 notes should be obtainable under $100 if you have patience to seek out and buy at lower grades.

This makes a complete collection of Indonesian money a very realistic proposition (some collectors like to collect serial number variations, e.g., AB 69493 is worth more than A 43544, and if you want to collect these as well you will need more money and patience). I guess there are about 150 notes in total. A complete collection in mostly UNC grades except for the most costly notes will come to somewhere around $1500 (a fair bit of money for sure, but just because there are so many different notes to collect).

sadly even though its very easy to get coins from Singapore, Philippine and Malaysia here in Bahrain Indonesian coins and bank notes are kinda tuff to find... all i got is the 500 rupiah from this set and 4 coins..(of which 2 are stunning.. the other 2 ehh ok )

if you have anymore info about the above mentioned banknote set ill be interested to hear what you have to say

Thank you for that write up, it is of great interest to me as I have just begun to collect the Indonesian banknotes

I'm not sure what coins you have, but basically Indonesia made coins from 1950-1961 in various 'sen' denominations (1 sen is approximately 1 millionth of a US$ today), and then since 1970 in denominations from 1 rupiah up to 1000 rupiah (since 1993). None of them are valuable, but the 1951 1 sen was even then pretty much worthless, and only 100,000 were minted. You can pick it up for $2-$3, and have something which is actually quite a scarce coin. Of course, the reason the price is low is that nobody cares about Indonesian coins. There are also Indonesian coins labelled 'Riau' and 'Irian Barat'. These are slightly scarcer than Indonesian coins but still don't have much collector popularity.

You are better off buying the silver and gold commemorative coins. The series for 25 years of independence 1970 has high collector demand, and includes some very nice large proof silver coins, as well as gold coins. There are also appealing 1974 and 1987 WWF animal silver and gold proof coins, 1990 Save the Children gold and silver coins, and 1999 Unicef gold and silver coin. These sell for $20-$30 in silver, while the gold goes for just above bullion value (which in the case of some is about $1000). There are also '45 year of independence' (1990) and '50 years of independence' (1995) coins in gold only, which have a high intrinsic value. There were two '100 years of Indonesian heroes' silver and gold coins issued in 2001 and 2002, but the mintage was low and these are seldom seen for sale. You can buy all the silver coins for under $500, but the gold coins have a collective bullion value in excess of $10,000 so you will need deep pockets for that.

Those notes pictured are recent ones from 1992. They are no longer legal tender. The current face value would be (in US$) $0.01, $0.05, $0.10, $0.50, $1, and $2. The 100 rupiah and 500 rupiah notes no longer exist at all, basically due to inflation and also the 75% devaluation of Indonesian currency in the 1997-1998 economic crisis, hence these are now coins. They were printed up until 1999/2000, after this the lowest note is 1000 rp. The design shown there was changed in 2000, while the 5000 rp was changed in 2001.

The 20,000 rupiah was updated in 1995 with the same design but added security foil. But it was only printed until 1998 when they came up with a new design for this and the 10,000 rp.

You can still find these notes circulating, especially the ones below 10,000 rp, simply because they are low valued and don't find their way into a bank - horrible dirty torn 100 and 500rp notes do a while of service.

You could very easily obtain the set (as well as most others from Indonesia) on ebay, although the 1995 20,000 rp with foil is more common than the 1992. I guess they would ship to Bahrain. If you buy in an auction you should get a good price. E.g., 2 * 20,000rp * 1992/1992 date (consecutive notes):

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/2-x-INDONESIA-20-00...9QQcmdZViewItem
$10, did not sell

or circulated:

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/2-x-INDONESIA-20-00...9QQcmdZViewItem

$0.50 (below face value, although not after postage....)

This set is therefore only about $10 in UNC.

Beware some of the catalogue prices for these recent notes. Due to the 75% devaluation, recent notes don't have as much value as they did!

In particular, the 100,000 rp (about $11 face value - two designs for this note: polymer 1999, and 2004 paper) should be purchased for $15-$20 max. This is the only Indonesian money that is worth more than $10 because of intrinsic value. So you won't be suffering much inflation holding Indonesian value.

The other high-denomination note is the 50,000. But it's still only worth ~$5:

1993 50,000 commemorative notes, either paper (P133), or polymer (usually in commemorative folder) (P134 a/b)
1995 50,000 non-commemorative version of the above (P136)
1999 50,000 redesigned to remove the deposed President Soeharto (P139)
2005 50,000 rp

None of these are scarce, and the market price is basically about $10 (essentially the $5 intrinsic value, plus $5 to cover dealer margin). Some dealers will mark the 1993 and 1995 notes up higher, but they are very common and are unlikely to fetch more than $15 max. You might pay a bit more with the folder, say $25 or $30 at the maximum.

Perhaps one day Indonesia will release a 1,000,000 rp note, which would lock up a fair bit of money, but until then it's basically fair to say that Indonesian money has pure antique value.

Have just posted a number of Indonesian notes on Banknotebank Hope that you have a look and let me know what you think of them

The goat is a buffalo :wink:

Data on the notes here:

http://www.infotech2003.com/catalogue/Worl...untry=Indonesia

LOL many thanks I did initially think it might have been then thought Nah it's to cute to be a Buffalo so decided on a goat

Can you tell me more about this 1959 Indonesian banknote ?

Not as much as I'd like.

There's a series from 1 to 1000rp of these flower notes. I am not really sure when or why they were issued, because Indonesia was circulating the 1958 date series from 1959 onwards until I think 1964:

http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-55.JPG

So when exactly and for how long this series of notes circulated is something I don't know. But they are cheap to buy, under $5, apart from the 500 (maybe up to $75 for UNC) and 1000 rp ($25), and this one is also slightly more at maybe $8.

The signature on the note is that of Loekman Hakim, governor of Bank Indonesia 1958-1959. So the 1959 date seems about right. I'm guessing they were circulated in 1960, but then the 1958 series maybe continued. One thing to say is that with the top denomination 1,000rp, I don't think they lasted that long. But they are available in plentiful supply. Whether this is just a preservation issue I don't know.

Basically from Bank Indonesia, up to 1965, you have:

1952 series (replaced De Javasche Bank of Netherland Indies)
http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-42.JPG
1957 series
http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-49.JPG
1958 series
http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-55.JPG
1959 series
http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-65.JPG
1963-1964 updates to 1958 series
http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-89.JPG (ignore the notes of 1 - 50 sen, these were issued only from 1965)

The issue is that they did not necessarily issue all the notes at the same time. For instance I believe the 1957 '2500 rp' was only issued in 1962, whereas the other notes were issued from 1958.
The 5,000 rp of 1958 date clearly does not date from 1958, but was added as a response to the hyperinflation of the early 1960s.

And the circulation of the 1958 notes is unclear, with the 1963-1964 colour changes, plus the 1964 10,000 rp note issued due to inflation, showing this series appeared to be current from its first issue in 1959 to 1964.

After that (1965), the rupiah was devalued, and those 1964 1-50 sen notes were used, along with notes oddly dated 1960

http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/indonesia/indonesia-82.JPG


What I can tell you is that they are nice-looking notes with lots of colour. Definitely best appreciated in UNC.

Thanks for the valuable explanation. At least now I know more about this note that I am keeping. Condition is not important for me as I go for the unique serial number that fit into my collection. It seems like a lot of colour and look a bit like batik printing which is traditional motiff design in this part of the world.

oh yeah. I didn't even notice the serial number.... Nice.

Actually, I try not to pay any attention to them, I don't want to have to collect too much

For Indonesian banknotes you get the basic design, e.g., Obverse: 'Woman harvesting rice', Reverse: 'Rice terrace'.

And then you get variations:

* Colours: some notes are issued with the same design and date but different colours
* Arms: the 1964 10,000 rupiah exists with and without printed arms
* Watermarks: differing watermarks on the same note - the 1965-issued series dated 1960 has either Soekarno, Buffalo, or Garuda watermarks; watermark location - the 1964 10,000 rupiah has its watermark in two different locations.
* Printer's name: some series of notes exist with and without the name of the printer at the bottom. The 1965 '1960' series also has two different printers marks
* New date/signatures: notes were on several occasions reissued in the same design with a new year and signatures
* Year of printing: since the 1992 series, notes exist for each year of printing. E.g., http://aes.iupui.edu/rwise/banknotes/indon...donatedth_f.jpg the year varies in the small text at bottom right
* Serial numbers: for instance some notes exist in the form 50 AB 1234567, 50 A 1234567, 50 A/BC 1234567 etc.

All of these variations are catalogued by Krause, except the serial numbers. According to Katalog Uang Kertas Indonesia some variations are rarer and more valuable.

I ignore the serial number changes. To me the number isn't important.

I also ignore the modern imprint years. The change is quite small and the modern notes are quite unappealing to me. If I collected them all, there would be about 50 near duplicates. Not nice in my album.

The colour variations have considerable aesthetic appeal, so these are definitely in, as are other major changes - new dates and signatures, and the arms/no arms note. I'm not really paying attention to the watermark variations, maybe I will add these later, nor to the printer's names, but again perhaps I will look at this later.