Coins of The Rupiah - Sen Coinage of The Rupiah 1951–1961

Sen Coinage of The Rupiah 1951–1961

For the first couple of years until sufficient coins had been issued, government sen notes were circulated, of 10, 25 and 50 sen denominations. No lower denominations were printed, but the old bronze Netherlands Indies gulden coins of 1/2, 1 and 2½ sen remained as legal tender (higher denominations, starting from 1/20 gulden (5 sen) had been silver, with greater intrinsic metal value).

Coinage, issued in 1951 and 1952 and from then until 1961, replaced the notes as sufficient coinage entered circulation. Under Indonesian law originally enacted by the Dutch, issue of money below 5 rupiah (in Dutch times gulden), was the responsibility of the government, and hence all coins bore the name of Indonesia, rather than the central bank.

The denominations were 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 sen. The 1 and 5 sen coins had centre holes, similar to the old copper coins of the Dutch, while the other coins were solid. All were aluminium except the 50 sen, which was copper-nickel. 1 sen coins were effectively worthless, and only a token number of 100,000 were minted, all dated 1952. 5 sen coins were more useful and were also minted dated 1954, as was the 10 sen.

From 1954, Indonesia began to eliminate use of Malay Arabic script (Jawi), which had been a feature of the coins of the Netherlands Indies as well as of past Islamic sultanates in the archipelago. The 50 sen coin was the first to be changed, with the Arabic text simply removed from the coin for its 1954-dated minting.

The 25 sen was the next to have the Arabic removed, with "INDONESIA" replacing its Jawi equivalent for the second minting of the coin, dated 1955 (the 50 sen was also minted that year).

Inflation meant that the smallest denomination to be minted after 1954 was the 10 sen, which likewise had Arabic removed from its reverse for its third minting, 1957; 25 and 50 sen coins were also minted in 1957.

After 1957, the cupro-nickel 50 sen was debased to aluminium, the same metal as the lower denomination coins (which were never minted again). As a result of this, the 50 sen, previously the heaviest, but second-smallest coin - slightly larger than the 1 sen, was now the largest coin in circulation (albeit lighter than its predecessor).