Indonesia 500 Rupiah banknote 1957 Tiger, Animal Series

Indonesia 500 Rupiah banknote 1957 Tiger Animal Series

Indonesia banknotes 500-Rupiah banknote 1957 Tiger
Bank Indonesia - Animal Series

Obverse: “LIMA RATUS RUPIAH” at centre, image of a Sumatran tiger at left, signatures of the Governor (Sjafruddin Prawiranegara) and the Director (Sabaroedin) of the bank.
Reverse: Detailed view of rice terrace in the Indonesian landscape, oxen in the foreground.
Size : 165mm x 84mm
(Pick, Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, 52).

1958–1959 Animals series - Second Series of Banknotes of Bank Indonesia

In 1957, governor of Bank Indonesia Sjafruddin Prawiranegara commissioned a new series of notes from English printer, Thomas De La Rue & Co. However, Syafruddin's involvement with PRRI meant that he was replaced in January 1958 as governor by Loekman Hakim. Specimens were produced in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 5000 rupiah, and the first of these to be brought into circulation were the 100 and 1000 rupiah notes, in 1958, due to the counterfeiting of these denominations of the 1952 series (the counterfeit notes can be distinguished by the wavy line watermark being printed onto the paper rather than a true watermark).

The issue of the notes was interrupted somewhat by a devaluation of August 24, 1959, with 500 (tiger) and 1000 (elephant) rupiah notes devalued to 50 (crocodile) and 100 rupiah (squirrel) in September 1959. The 2500 and 5000 rupiah notes were deemed unnecessary thanks to the devaluation. The 2500 rupiah note was eventually issued three years later due to continued high inflation, while the 5000 rupiah was never issued. The 10 and 25 rupiah notes were only circulated for 3 days, although they remained legal tender, and are today extremely rare.

In addition to the 8 notes designed, Loekman commissioned a new note, of 2500 rupiah. Apart from the 100 and 1000 rupiah notes, the remaining high denomination note, the 500 rupiah, was released on 6 January 1959.