By Rob Huisman

Introduction

In preparation to the surrender of the Japanese army in Asia Pacific, the Netherlands Indies government in exile received permission by Royal decree in 1943 to produce new paper money. This new paper money, NICA – short for “Netherlands Indies Civil Administration” – was printed in the USA and afterwards stored in Australia until it could be brought into circulation after the Second World War to help the Dutch authority to re-establish itself in the Netherlands Indies. The local Indonesians called this money the Red Money (Uang Merah).

The actual introduction of the NICA money knew many political and practical obstacles. More than a year before the Japanese surrender and before the end of the Second World War, the money was already put into circulation in the never occupied South of New Guinea, subsequently in the North of New Guinea and then in the liberated areas; those parts of the Netherlands Indies that became (temporarily) completely under Dutch rule.

On August 17, 1945 - two days after the Japanese capitulation - Soekarno declared the independence of the Republic Indonesia. The Indonesian Republican government also had a plan to introduce and circulate their paper money as soon as possible in order to practically support the revolutionary mindset. The introduction of the White Money (Uang Putih) or ORI (Oeang Republik Indonesia) would become an important obstacle for the introduction of the NICA money. Roughly the Netherlands Indies were divided in three parts: one under Dutch rule where the NICA money was put into circulation, one Republican part where ORI money was made available and a third part where due to practical reasons (read logistical problems) no ORI money could be introduced and local and regional authorities and companies produced and circulated their own paper money.

During the period 1946 – 1948, the Republican government issued four emissions paper money (ORI I – October 17, 1945, ORI II – January 1, 1947, ORI III – July 26, 1947 en ORI IV- August 23, 1948). The first production run (approx. 3 metric tons) that was printed since early 1945, was confiscated by the British Allied Forces mid January 1946. Reprinting was subsequently done at Kolff printing works in Malang and eventually put into circulation in October 1946 after an extensive introduction campaign. This concerned front-page advertisements in the Republican newspaper “Merdeka” on October 26, 1946 and the spread of pamphlets about the upcoming introduction (see picture 1). It is assumed that the seized first production run still got into circulation some time later.

The circumstances under which the ORI paper money was produced were often poor. For most paper money collectors the ORI notes are not very attractive collection items. The poor paper quality, printing, artwork and design and the differences in quality, color and finishing within the same series make ORI notes an under-appreciated and unpopular area of collecting. However when one focuses on this interesting period of the colonial history of the Netherlands and the struggle for independence of Indonesia, a new world of discoveries and surprises opens up.

Most collectors will have had ORI notes in their hands and must have noticed the large variety of serial identifications and serial number constructions. Some notes, especially the lower denominations have no or very simple serial identifications, often only consisting of a few characters. The higher denominations carry serial identifications that consist of 5 to 6 numbers in combination with several characters.

The fact that the quality of the ORI money was rather poor, did at that time already lead to the conclusion that counterfeiting was relatively easy. Knowing that forgeries were a serious threat to the trustworthiness of the ORI money, the Republican financial authority looked for solutions to withstand counterfeiting. One of the measures was to apply secret codes to the serial identification through which the official authorities were able to easily identify fake notes.

Picture 1: pamphlet announcing the new ORI paper money

Many years of collecting, many different varieties of ORI notes, lots of contacts with fellow collectors and many hours of study and research, eventually resulted in the fact that certain patterns could be recognized. Following is a description of how I got to the results mentioned later on in this article. 

One of the Pick 29A notes in my collection has the serial identifications 056294 UA EZ. The structure of the serial identification of all other notes in this series is the same: six numbers and four characters. My initial observation was that the serial number always starts with a 0 (zero) and the serial number was made up of 10 ranges (000001-009999, 010000-019999, etc., etc.). Furthermore, each range had a unique relation with the first of the four characters. The “U” in my own note had a fixed relation with the range 050000-059999.

The next step was to find the link between this knowledge and the “Seratus Tembakauan” description. I had 10 different characters for each range and a textual description of 17 characters. Several characters matched but there also were several equal characters in the description, like the “e”, “s” and the “a”. In the process of trying to find the link I spent many hours sorting the numbers, creating tables looking at the information from different angles, but failed to make a solid match. Then, after putting the matter to rest for some days, all of a sudden it appeared to me that if I eliminate the double characters (left to right) from the description, I have 10 characters. “Seratus Tembakauan” would then become “seratumbkn” and those 10 characters match with the characters that are unique to each of the 10 serial number ranges. Eureka!

Actually, I was pretty excited with these findings and I looked at the Pick 35 note and found that the same principle applied to this serial identification. Now the real work began and I started to study all the other ORI notes for similar hidden constructions. The challenge was that I had no clues for the textual description in Indonesian for any of the other ORI notes. Therefore I took the approach of reverse-engineering. I had collected many different ORI notes and I was able to reconstruct the description of the Pick 30 note also (“two hundred fifty” or “Dua Ratus Lima Puluh” which becomes “duartslimp” after eliminating the double characters).

During my reverse-engineering project, I was able to establish the proof that most other serial identifications of ORI notes also have hidden relations. Most often there is a fixed link between the serial number and one of the characters in the serial identifications, however in some cases there is a relation between the characters only.

An interesting result of these hidden codes is that one can draw conclusions about the number of issued notes of a specific series. The Pick 29A for example, can only have been issued in a maximum quantity of 99.999 since there are 10 ranges (one of 9.999 and nine of 10.000) and they only occur with a specific unique character. Although this quantity seems very low for the huge area where they were distributed, the only possibility to issue more notes is to produce notes with the same serial identification. I have not found any proof of this, but there are rumors that this was the case for ORI notes.

Unfortunately, not all falsifications can be identified based on my findings. In the case that forgeries were produced carrying the same serial number identification as the original notes, other indications need to be used to determine notes being false.

The following overview with conclusions and assumptions, although based on a unique quantity of material and research, is just an interim score. Further information, more research and new material might result in other visions and new insight.

Emission Oeang Republik Indonesia I (ORI I) (White money or Uang Putih), Jakarta, October 17, 1945, A.A. Maramis

½ Rupiah, October 17, 1945 (KUKI H-193, Pick 16)

The serial identification of this note consists of six numbers and two characters. The figure with six numbers occurs with a first number 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4.

The two characters are always capitals. The first character is an L, M, N, O, P, R, S or T.

The second character is a P, R, T, U, V, W or X. The “X” is often a little smaller than the usual character size.

1 Rupiah, October 17, 1945 (KUKI H-194, Pick 17)

Picture 2: the two different serial identifications

This note occurs with two different serial identifications. One identification with only two characters (capitals) and the other identification with a six number figure and two characters, where the characters occur in combinations of two capitals or one capital and one lower-case.

The serial identification with six numbers and two characters has a pattern where there is a fixed relation between the first number and the first character as follows:

5 Rupiah, October 17, 1945 (KUKI H-195, Pick 18)

The serial identification of this note has two varieties: six numbers and two characters or six numbers and three characters. In the first variety, both characters are capitals. In the second variety, the first character is always a capital, the second and third character are always lower-case.

Both serial identifications show a fixed pattern whereby there is a fixed relation between the first number and the first character, as follows:

10 Rupiah, October 17, 1945 (KUKI H-196, Pick 19)

This note has two different serial identifications: six numbers with two characters and six numbers with three characters. The two character variety has a first character that is always a capital and a second character that is either a capital or in lower-case. The second character variety with three characters exists with the first two characters being capitals and the third character always as lower-case. This third character is always the same letter as the second character.

Both the first variety and the second, have a pattern whereby there is a fixed relation between the first number and the first character, as follows:

100 Rupiah, October 17, 1945 (KUKI H-197, Pick 20)

The serial identification of this note consists of 5 numbers and two characters (capitals) and there is a fixed relation between the first number and the first character, as follows:

Many forgeries exist of this note; in general the printing is less sharp, especially the tie of Soekarno shows filling up between the lines. Also the serial identification is printed in other varieties of red, either lighter or darker. I have observed false notes in green color, however I have never found a genuine green one of this 1945 issue.

Emission ORI II – Jogjakarta, January 1, 1947, Sjafruddin Prawiranegara

5 Rupiah, 1 januari 1947 (KUKI H-198, Pick 21)

The serial identification of this note has two varieties: six numbers and two characters or six numbers and three characters. In the first variety, the first character is always a capital, but the second character is a capital or lower-case. In the second variety with three characters, the first character is always a capital, the second character either a capital or lower-case and the third character always lower-case.

Both serial identifications show a pattern whereby there is a fixed relation between the first number and the first character, as follows:

10 Rupiah, 1 Januari 1947 (KUKI H-199, Pick 22)

This note has two different serial identifications: six numbers with two characters and six numbers with three characters. The two character variety has a first character that is always a capital and a second character that is either a capital or in lower-case. In the variety with  three characters, the first two characters are always capitals and the third character is always lower-case. This third character is always the same letter as the second character.

Both the first variety and the second, have a pattern with a fixed relation between the first number and the first character, as follows: 

25 Rupiah, January 1, 1947 (KUKI H-200, Pick 23)

This note has a serial identification of six numbers and two characters. The first character is always a capital , the second character is either a capital or lower-case.

The first character has a fixed relation with the first number, as shown in below table:

Picture 3: 25 Rupiah, January 1, 1947

100 Rupiah, 1 januari 1947 (KUKI H-201, Pick 24)

The serial identification of this note has six numbers and two characters. The first number is always “0” (zero). The first character is always a capital, but the second character is either a capital or lower-case.

The first character only occurs in specific combinations with the second number, as follows:

Emission ORI III – Jogjakarta, July 26, 1947, A.A. Maramis

½ Rupiah, July 26, 1947 (KUKI H-202, Pick 25)

The serial identification of the note consists of just two characters, printed twice on the obverse.

The following character combinations are known:

AD, AH, AL, AN, AT, DA, KE, UL

2½ Rupiah, 26 juli 1947 (KUKI H-203, Pick 26)

This note also has a serial identification of two characters only, printed on the right upper and lower left quadrant of the obverse of the note.

The observed character combinations are as follows:

AN, AT, BL, DA, DI, DJ, ER, IK, IN, KE, NE, PU, RA, RE, RI, SA, SI, TU

Picture 4: 2½ Rupiah, July 26, 1947

 * There is a fake version of this note with the characters GA. This note is printed in red and can be easily identified by the vertical line in the middle of the design on the reverse. This line most likely results from copying a used note with a vertical fold.

25 Rupiah, 26 juli 1947 (KUKI H-204, Pick 27)

Each note of this issue carries the same serial identification (SDX1), which is printed as part of the regular obverse print. It is believed that there are many forgeries of this note. There is no specific method to clearly determine this note as genuine or fake, although my opinion is that the sharper the printing, the more chance it’s a real note. This can only be done if one has several notes to compare.

50 Rupiah, 26 juli 1947 (KUKI H-205, Pick 28)

This note has 6 numbers and two characters (always capitals) as serial identification.

The secret code of this note is within the fixed relation between the first number and the first character, shown in below table:

It is my assumption that the first characters “lmhsiaudrk” have a specific relation to the Indonesian description of this note, similar to the 100 Rupiah note (KUKI H-207) which is described a little further in this article. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to crack this code, however with obtaining more material in future and more research, it is just  a matter of time.

Because the method of linking one unique character to a specific range, it is safe to conclude that the total number of issued notes is 999.999 at the maximum. 

Picture 5: 50 Rupiah, July 26, 1947

100 Rupiah, July 26, 1947 (KUKI H-206, Pick 29)

Each note of this issue carries the same serial identification (SDA1), which is printed as part of the regular obverse print. It is believed that there are many forgeries of this note. There is no specific method to clearly determine this note as genuine or fake, although my opinion is that the sharper the printing, the more chance it’s a real note. This can only be done if one has several notes to compare.

100 Rupiah, July 26, 1947 (KUKI H-207, Pick 29A)

The serial identification of this note consists of six numbers and four characters (two sets of two).

The secret coding of this note is structured as follows:

The first number is always a “0” (zero).

First character:

This note was issued with ten different number ranges (one of 9.999 and nine of 10.000), each range has its own specific and unique character. Therefore ten different characters were needed. The origin to these ten characters is the Indonesian description of the note “Seratus Tembakauan” (Hundred Tobacco) because the note has a nominal value of 100 Rupiah and shows a picture of a tobacco plantation. When the double characters (left to right) are eliminated from the description, it leaves 10 characters “Seratumbkn”.

Serial number ranges and the first character:

 Second and fourth character:

The second and fourth character have a fixed relation. The second character is alphabetically one character lower than the fourth character. When the second character is an “A” then the fourth character is a “Z”. In order to prevent confusion, the character “J” is omitted and the combinations “JI” and “KJ” are not used. In stead the combination “KI” is used. Also the character “Q” is omitted and the combinations “QP” and “RQ” are not used. In stead, the combination “RP” is used.

Third character:

The first character only occurs in fixed combinations with the third character, as follows:

Because the serial number consists of ranges with their unique first character, it is safe to conclude that a maximum number of 99.999 notes were issued.

250 Rupiah, July 26, 1947 (KUKI H-208, Pick 30)

The serial identification of this note consists of six numbers and two characters.

The secret coding of this note is structured as follows:

The first number is always a “0” (zero).

First character:

This note was issued with ten different number ranges (one of 9.999 and nine of 10.000), each range has its own specific and unique character. Therefore ten different characters were needed. The origin to these ten characters is the Indonesian description of the value of the note “Dua Ratus Lima Puluh” (Two hundred fifty). When the double characters (left to right) are eliminated from the description, it leaves 10 characters “Duartslimp”.

Second character:

It is unclear if there is a fixed relation between the first and second character. The following combinations are observed:

Because the serial number consists of ranges with their unique first character, it is safe to conclude that a maximum number of 99.999 notes were issued.

There are some known exceptions to the above coding. This concerns a number of notes that were provided with a serial identification using a typewriter under special and primitive circumstances (e.g. 036137 SQ)

Emissie ORI IV –Jogjakarta, August 23, 1948, Drs. Mohammed Hatta

40 Rupiah, August 23, 1948 (KUKI H-209, Pick 33)

The serial identification of this note consists of 4 (2x2) characters.

Reading from left to right, the following character combinations are known:

AA PZ, AC PB, AG PF, AI UH, AL UK, AN UM, MB RA, MD RC, MF RE, MH RG, MK TI, MM TL, PP SO, PW SV

The second and fourth character have a fixed relation. The second character is alphabetically one character lower than the fourth character. When the second character is an “A” then the fourth character is a “Z”. In order to prevent confusion, the character “J” is omitted and the combinations “JI” and “KJ” are not used. In stead the combination “KI” is used.

It is likely that the character “Q” has been omitted and the combinations “QP” and “RQ” were not used and in stead, the combination “RP” could have been used. Unfortunately there are no notes known with these combinations, therefore proof is not available.

Picture 6: 40 Rupiah, August 23, 1948

75 Rupiah, 23 augustus 1948 (KUKI H210, Pick 33A)

The serial identification of this note consists of five numbers and two characters or six numbers and two characters.

The code in the two characters of the serial identification is build up as follows:

The early notes of this issue (with 5 numbers) have the characters “MM”. Starting from number 48587 (or earlier but not lower than number 29603) the second character becomes an “A”. Subsequently the first character increases alphabetically from “M” to “N”, then “P” etc., etc. In line with that, the second character also increases alphabetically from “A” to “B”, “C”, “D” etc., etc. In this way the following character combinations are formed:

MM, MA, NB, OC, PD, QE, RF, SG, TH, UI

The transition from 5 to 6 numbers happens in the “PD” character combination. 193218 UI is the highest known number. It cannot be ruled out that more character combinations exist like VJ and WK, however these are currently unknown to the author.

Since the serial number consists of ranges with their unique character combination, it is highly likely that a maximum number of 199.999 notes were issued.

Picture 7: 75 Rupiah, August 23, 1948

100 Rupiah, August 23, 1948 (KUKI H-211, Pick 34)

The serial identification of this note consists of six numbers and four characters (two sets of two).

The secret coding of this note is structured as follows:

The first number is always a “0” (zero).

First character:

This note was issued with ten different number ranges (one of 9.999 and nine of 10.000), each range has its own specific and unique character. Therefore ten different characters were needed. The origin to these ten characters is the Indonesian description of the note “Seratus Tembakauan” (Hundred Tobacco) because the note has a nominal value of 100 Rupiah and shows a picture of a tobacco plantation. When the double characters (left to right) are eliminated from the description, it leaves 10 characters “Seratumbkn”.

Second and fourth character:

The second and fourth character have a fixed relation. The second character is alphabetically one character lower than the fourth character. When the second character is an “A” then the fourth character is a “Z”. In order to prevent confusion, the character “J” is omitted and the combinations “JI” and “KJ” are not used. In stead the combination “KI” is used. Also the character “Q” is omitted and the combinations “QP” and “RQ” are not used. In stead, the combination “RP” is used.

Third character:

The first character only occurs in fixed combinations with the third character, as follows:

Because the serial number consists of ranges with their unique first character, it is safe to conclude that a maximum number of 99.999 notes were issued.

400 Rupiah, August 23, 1948 (KUKI H-212, Pick 35)

The serial identification of this note consists of six numbers and four (2x2) characters.

The secret coding of this note is structured as follows:

The first number is always a “0” (zero).

First character:

This note was issued with ten different number ranges (one of 9.999 and nine of 10.000), each range has its own specific and unique character. Therefore ten different characters were needed. The origin to these ten characters is the Indonesian description of the note “Ampat Ratus Tebuan” (Four hundred sugar-cane) because the note has a nominal value of 400 Rupiah and shows a picture of sugar-cane plants. When the double characters (left to right) are eliminated from the description, it leaves 10 characters “Amptrusebn”.

Serial number ranges and the first character:

Second and fourth character:

The second and fourth character have a fixed relation. The second character is alphabetically one character lower than the fourth character. When the second character is an “A” then the fourth character is a “Z”. In order to prevent confusion, the character “J” is omitted and the combinations “JI” and “KJ” are not used. In stead the combination “KI” is used.

It is likely that the character “Q” has been omitted and the combinations “QP” and “RQ” were not used and in stead, the combination “RP” could have been used. Unfortunately there are no notes known with these combinations, therefore proof is not available.

Third character:

The first character only occurs in fixed combinations with the third character, as follows:

There are some authentic notes known of the serial number range 090000 – 099999 with a first character “M” and a third character “G”.

There are some known exceptions to the above coding. This concerns a number of notes that were provided with a serial identification using a typewriter under special and primitive circumstances (e.g. 055905 UL EK).

Because the serial number consists of ranges with their unique first character, it is safe to conclude that a maximum number of 99.999 notes were issued.

There are many falsifications of this specific note. Often these notes have serial identifications that do not match the secret code. Most forgeries occur with the combinations BK NI, EK MD, MD FC, UL FC and UL NR. Although some of these character combinations match the secret code described above, these notes mostly occur with serial numbers that fall outside of the specified ranges. In some cases the serial numbers do match with the ranges, however this should be considered as pure coincidence.

Picture 8: 400 Rupiah, August 23, 1948 (forgery)

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- Collectplaza International Auctions B.V., catalogues of May 2005, November 2005 and May 2006

- Java auction, catalogues of October 2, 2005 and August 5, 2006

- Banknotes and Coins from Indonesia 1945-1990, Yayasan Serangan Umum 1 Maret 1949 & Perum Peruri Jakarta

- Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, general issues, seventh edition, volume two by Albert Pick (Pick)

- Katalog Uang Kertas Indonesia 1782-1996, Sugiana Handjaja, 1996 issue (KUKI)

- Political Dimensions of the currency question 1945-1947 by Robert Cribb

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I would like to thank UnO for his friendship and exchange of information and Hans van Weeren for challenging my findings and encouraging my enthusiasm for collecting Indonesian and Netherlands Indies paper money.

The author, Rob Huisman (mailto:info@uang-kertas.com) would like to hear from anyone with more information about these ORI notes.