20 Ducats – Netherlands East Indies

By 1830, the currency situation in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) was characterized by severe scarcity and instability, a direct consequence of the recently concluded Java War (1825-1830). The costly conflict had drained the colonial treasury, leading to a critical shortage of official coinage, particularly silver. This scarcity crippled everyday commerce and tax collection, forcing the colonial administration under Governor-General Johannes van den Bosch to seek drastic fiscal solutions, most notably the introduction of the Cultivation System (Cultuurstelsel).

To address the monetary crisis, the authorities relied heavily on the circulation of foreign and often debased coins. Spanish American silver dollars (reales) and their fractional parts remained a common but insufficient medium. More problematically, a flood of low-quality copper duit coins, minted in vast quantities from 1826 onward, led to inflation and a breakdown in the fixed exchange rate between copper and silver. This created a two-tiered system where large transactions and government payments required scarce silver, while the populace dealt in depreciating copper, eroding public trust in the currency.

This chaotic monetary environment provided a crucial backdrop for the launch of the Cultivation System in 1830. The system was designed not only to restore Dutch finances but also to resolve the currency shortage. By compelling Javanese farmers to cultivate export crops like coffee and sugar for the government, the colony could generate immense profits in international markets. These profits, repatriated as silver, were intended to stabilize the treasury and eventually restore a sound, silver-based currency, thereby solving the dual crises of empty coffers and a dysfunctional circulating medium through forced agricultural exports.