2 1/2 Rupiah

The Governor of Sumatra issues are among the more administratively peculiar notes of the Indonesian revolution. With the Dutch naval blockade cutting off Java from Sumatra after 1945, regional military and civilian authorities were left to finance the independence struggle largely on their own terms — hence a parallel series of emergency issues carrying gubernatorial rather than central bank authority.

The 2½ Rupiah denomination reflects the Dutch-era monetary convention of the "twee-en-een-halve," retained out of practical necessity rather than sentiment. Printed locally under wartime conditions, these notes show considerable variation in ink consistency and paper quality across surviving examples.