Old Currency Notes in India and their Types
Indian banknotes share a lot of insights about our country’s history which is why collectors and notaphilists are always looking for rare notes of India. Currency notes in India can be classified into four categories namely, Early bank Notes, British India notes, Princely State issues, Indian notes issued during the Colonial period and Republic India notes.
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Early notes of India can be further classified based on the Presidencies which released them, namely Bombay, Madras and Bengal. This 20 Rupees Bengal Presidency Uniface note was made of handmade white paper and features an oval vignette of personified Ganga on the left and an oval vignette of mahout on an elephant on the right. The obverse features red designs on a black background while the watermark depicts Ashokan Pillar on the left.
British India notes can be further classified as Portrait Note of Queen Victoria, Uniface Note of Government of India, King George V issues and notes of King George VI. Here’s a 50 rupees uniface note issued for the Calcutta circle featuring a portrait of Queen Victoria. The watermark features the text GOVERNMENT OF INDIA in bold letters
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Osmania Notes of Hyderabad were the only Princely state notes of India that were circulated in different denominations like 1 rupee, 5 rupees, 10 rupees, 100 rupees and 1,000 rupees. This 1000 Rupees Indian note was machine made and was issued in the year 1 Aban 1334 and signed by Hyder Nawaz Jung. The obverse featured the text Currency Note Sarkar-e-Ali' in Urdu meaning Government Currency Note.
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Old notes of India issued during the colonial times can be further classified into two groups namely, Indo-Portuguese and Indo-French issues. This 20 Rupias indo-Portuguese colonial Indian notes were made of Mould Made Paper and was signed by the then Governor EDUARDO PINTO DA SILVA E CUNHA. The language panel was in Urdu, Marathi, Gujarati and Kannada.