Coins of the Indonesian rupiah
Due to high inflation in the late 1950s and early 1960s, no coins were minted after 1961, and that which remained in circulation were effectively worthless.
A devalued 'new rupiah' was issued in an attempt to tame inflation in 1965, with banknotes in denominations all the way from Rp0.01 (1 cent) up to Rp100 - no coins were struck at this time.
By 1971, however, the economy, and inflation, under Suharto's New Order was stable, and coinage was once again issued, in denominations of Rp1, Rp5, Rp10, Rp25 and Rp50, with Rp100 coins added two years later.
Due to inflation, the current coinage now consists of Rp25, Rp50, Rp100, Rp200, Rp500 and Rp1,000, although older Rp1 coins remain officially legal tender for completeness.
For the first couple of years until sufficient coins had been issued, government cent notes were circulated, of Rp0.10, Rp0.25 and Rp0.50 denominations.
No lower denominations were printed, but the old bronze Netherlands Indies gulden coins of ½, 1 and 2½ cents remained as legal tender (higher denominations, starting from 1/20 gulden (5 cents), had been silver, with greater intrinsic metal value).
From 1954, Indonesia began to stop using the Jawi script, which had been a feature of the coins of the Netherlands Indies as well as of past Islamic sultanates in the archipelago.
The coin was made of gold, circulated in Aceh, Sulawesi and Malayan states in some forms, for centuries.
[9] West Irian coin is evaluated as US$100,[10] and never placed into circulation, maybe because of hyperinflation that ruled Indonesian economy in Sukarno era, especially during the years 1959 to 1965.
In addition to the sale to collectors, the vast majority of the 10 rupiah coins were used within Indonesia - in addition to some rarer coins (none of which were issued in Indonesia) the FAO wanted low denomination circulating coinage that called for increasing food production.
The 5 rupiah aluminium coin was revised dated 1974, the obverse changing only the date, but the reverse depicting the logo of KB ('Keluarga Berencana', aka family planning', a movement first established by the Indonesian government in 1970), i.e. a 2-parent, 2-child family with rice and cotton stalk and letters KB, with the text 'KELUARGA BERENCANA' ('family planning') 'MENUJU KESEJAHTERAAN RAKYAT' ('for the welfare of the people').
The 10 rupiah was enlarged substantially dated 1974, with the composition changed to brass-clad steel, with the obverse unchanged, and the reverse changed to show the symbol of Tabanas, the government's 1970-established national savings scheme, and the slogan 'MENABUNG UNTUK MENUNJANG PEMBANGUNAN' ('save to support development') 223 million were minted.
The 1973 100 rupiah was given an updated reverse design in 1978, reading 'HUTAN UNTUK KESEJAHTERAAN' (Forest for welfare), '1978' and a motif of the gunungan wayang.
The 1974 5 rupiah, meanwhile, was updated '1979', issued from March 1980, retaining its family planning message, but adding a circular decoration to both reverse and obverse of the coin, and being shrunk in size from 3.0 to 1.4 grams, presumably to cut the cost of production.
The 1974 10 rupiah was similarly updated with decoration to '1979', enlarged, and the composition changed to aluminium.
For new coinage, the old style of a large number was replaced instead with the national Garuda Pancasila logo, with the year and "BANK INDONESIA" in smaller text below the emblem.
This coin depicts an oil palm (Indonesian: kelapa sawit), and bears the mint years of 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000.
The 100 rupiah coin was also altered in the same manner to aluminium from '1999', depicting the palm cockatoo.
36,000 gold pieces of the 1952 50 sen were minted that year, with the obverse design replaced with the Garuda Pancasila and text "INDONESIA" "BERKERDJA MENABUNG MEMBANGUN".
