Today's postcard is from Indonesia. Restu sent me this card featuring two banknotes of Dutch East Indies, which I really appreciate as collecting banknotes is also one of my hobbies. It was really thoughtful of her.
Dutch East Indies (also Netherlands East Indies) was a Dutch colony that became the independent state of Indonesia in 1945, though recognised only in 1949.
The banknotes were worth 5 & 10 Gulden(the currency used at that time). They were issued in 1938 and have the lettering "De Javasche Bank, Betaalt aan toonder" which literally mean "The Javasche Bank, Pay bearer" in Dutch. Both of them feature Javan dancers and the 10 Gulden note, in particular, has some information on its reverse, concerning the punishment if someone was found counterfeiting the note. I find this amusing!
The postmark was stamped over the picture itself, which is really unfortunate.
I also happen to have a coin from the Dutch East Indies.
This 1-cent coin is from 1945, which is the same year in which Indonesia proclaimed independence and also the year World War II ended. This coin was minted during the reign of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.
Restu sent me this card as part of an event on the Postcrossing forum, which was really sweet of her.
She said she picked this postcard for me after reading about my hobbies on my profile.
She has stuck a sticker which says "Greeting from Indonesia" in both Indonesian (known as Bahasa Indonesia locally) and in English. She also translated my name into Indonesian. It was good to find out how my name is spelt in a different language.
The back of the card also has the lettering "Uang Masa Kolonial Belanda(1922-1942), Koleksi Museum Bank Indonesia" meaning "Dutch colonial money, Bank of Indonesia Museum collection".
She wrote --
"January 9th, 2019 26°C
Hello Vishnu, how are you doing? Thank you for joining my event at postcrossing forum. I read on your profile that you like coins and currency notes. So, instead touristic postcard, I decided to send you this one. It shows Indonesia bank notes during Dutch colonized 1922-1942. Hope you'll enjoy it =). Happy Postcrossing!"
She stuck 2 stamps from 2017 depicting the "Vision of Indonesia, 2045", which is an Indonesian ideal that set the goal for the country to be a sovereign, advanced, fair and prosperous nation by 2045. The goal is set in 2045 since by then the republic will commemorate 100 years of its independence.
You might wonder why such a large number like 3000 is printed on it unless it is the cost of the stamp. Yes, you are right. It is indeed the cost and the reason for it is due to the economic crisis and high inflation period that Indonesia had in the past. The 6000 Rupiah stamps are worth INR 31 or 0.41 USD. This is double the cost of stamps used to send postcards internationally from India.
The stamp shows the industries in Indonesia beautifully. It displays the Shipping industry, the Telecommunications industry and more such industries in its design. The tab on the right side shows colour coded Ships, which I think is really impressive.
The postmark on this stamp wasn't legible either.
Fun fact: The stamps were separated from the card when I received it, probably due to the heat or some other factor. The mailman dropped the stamps and the card separately in my mailbox. I was lucky the stamps weren't lost. They might have been separated in the mailman's bag I guess.
Labels: History, Indonesia, Postcard
