| Description | The gulden was the unit of account of the Dutch East Indies from 1602 under the United East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; VOC), following Dutch practice first adopted in the 15th century (gulden coins were not minted in the Netherlands between 1558 and 1681 and none circulated in the Indies until a century later). A variety of Dutch, Spanish and Asian coins were in official and common usage. After the collapse of the VOC at the end of the 18th century, control of the islands reverted to the Dutch government, which issued silver 'Netherlands Indies' gulden and fractional silver and copper coins until Indonesian independence in 1948.
Coinage was finally fully decimalised in 1854, with copper 1⁄2, 1 and 21⁄2 cents and silver 1⁄20, 1⁄10 and ¼ gulden (although the 1821-1840 coinage continued to circulate). The new coinage bore Arabic script alongside Dutch language, which earlier Dutch-minted had not done. The 1⁄20 gulden was only issued in 1854 and 1855, because it was too small to be convenient, but all other denominations continued to be issued until 1945, with copper changing to bronze from 1914, the addition of silver 1 and 2 1⁄2 gulden coins in 1943 (in earlier years regular Dutch coins of 1⁄2, 1 and 2 1⁄2 gulden had circulated alongside the Indies ones), and a copper-nickel 5 cent that was issued in 1913, 1921 and 1922. No coins in any denomination were minted between 1861 and 1881. The last coins are dated 1941-1945 and were minted in the USA while the Dutch were tied up in World War II and the Japanese were ruling the Indies. |
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