Engraving and printing of Indian Paper Money before Act of 1861

Nilaish, MBA

Fellow of Royal Numismatic Society

Introduction

           

Indian early paper money is known since 1770 A.D. but there is no example known till today before 1812 A.D. Several private and presidency banks regulated the currency norms in Indian economy between 1810 and 1861 A.D. The Governor General of India in 1809-10, Lord Gilbert Minto granted Royal Charter to Bank of Bengal as Presidency Bank of the Bengal Presidency. Thus, the trend of semi governmental banking system evolved in India. Later Bombay and Madras Presidency also founded Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras in 1840 and 1843 respectively. Out of three, Bank of Bengal was the earliest semi-government bank which issued currency notes in the province. All three banks and with some private banks of India first in history witnessed the fabric of Indian Paper Money. The earliest currency notes were denominated in ‘Sicca Rupees’ moving to Company’s Rupees and finally into Rupees. The designs of the early currency notes of India evolved from designs without vignettes to vignettes and many other features also evolved.  The Currency Act of 1861 was passed which enforced Government of India as central note producing body only. The Bank of Bengal, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras merged in 1921-22 to form Imperial Bank of India, which was later renamed as, State Bank of India by SBI Act of 1955.

Early Printing

It is understood that the banknotes of Bank of Hindostan were ordered to be printed by the printers of Provincial Banks notes of England. It is also recorded that notes were engraved by Ashby (Razack et al. 2012). His full name was, Harry Ashby [see below], was writing engraver around 1803, who engraved some early banknotes of Indian banks. There are two banknotes which supports this assumption of printing of these notes in England, one banknote of denomination four Sicca Rupees (Razack et al. 2012) which has watermark: Oswestry Old Bank at the bottom and at the top Croxon, Jones & Co. Ltd.; and another, a five pounds banknote of Provincial Bank (Razack et al. 2012) which has watermark of Bank of Hindostan. The Oswestry is the meeting point of Shropshire (England) and Wales. Croxon, Jones & Co (Old Bank) Ltd, Oswestry, 1792-1894.

Harry Ashby in 1803

Image Curtsey: British Museum. Bibliography: O'Donoghue, Freeman; Hake, Henry M, Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, 6 vols, London, 1908.

Bank of Bengal’s note issues are broadly categorized into three broad series; viz.,Unifaced, Commerce and Britannia Series. It is assumed that the early unifaced notes were printed by Perkins & Heath London?, however there is no mention on the survived notes. James Dunbar Heath (1913: 103) published an account of the Perkins & Bacon Co. London who printed commerce series notes of Bank of Bengal. He mentioned that in 1819, Jacob Perkins, an engraver, an inventor, of Boston (USA) was advised by Sir C. Bagot, the British Minister in America with a mission to secure contract for engraving banknotes of Bank of England. It is also mentioned that how the steel hardened plates were used to print the banknotes. The Commerce Series of Bank of Bengal shows the name of the printers between 1824 and 1856 as: 

Printers and engravers on Presidency Banks notes

Banknote of Provincial Bank having watermark of Bank of Hindostan. 

The design is similar to the Bank of Hindostan Banknote. 

Image Curtsey: londoncoins.co.uk

Four Sicca Rupees banknote of Bank of Hindostan has watermark of Oswestry Old Bank

Image Curtsey: Rezwan Razack

The chief point of the Steel Hardened plate process were, the engraving on small pieces of soft steel of intricate patterns vignettes and other portions of the banknote or other document, which after the steel was hardened, were transformed by pressure to a soft steel-roller. This in turn was hardened, and the various portions of the designs transferred to the steel printing plates. Thus any number of plates could be made, each identical in every line with the original. However, he was not able to secure the contract but another engraver, Mr. G. Fairman, and Charles Heath founded on the advice of Sir Joseph Banks, the firm Perkins, Fairman & Heath and obtained large orders from English Banks, which at the time were allowed to issue £1 notes. The date of foundation is believed to be in December, 1819; but by 1822 the name had been altered to Perkins & Heath and later to Perkins & Bacon. In 1834 Mr. Petch joining the company changed the name Perkins, Bacon & Petch, and in 1852 the name was again altered to Perkins Bacon & Co. The Perkins Bacon & Co., were located at 69, Fleet Street, London till 1904. The Perkins, Bacon & Co. London printed banknotes of Bank of Bengal between 1824 and 1856. They also printed the banknotes of Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras. 

Notes & References: 

1. Heath, James Dunbar; (1913), “Records of the Heath family”, George Heath private circulation, Chapter VIII, London, 1st edn., p.103. 

2. Bruyante; James B.; (1900), “An Account of the Presidency Banks”, Office of the Superintendent of Govt. of India, India Papers of British Library. 

3. Bagachi; Amiya; (1987), “Evolution of the State Bank of India: Part I”, Oxford University Press, 1st edn., Out of print. 

4. Bengal Government; (1930), “Report of the Bengal Provincial Banking Enquiry Committee 1929-30”, Report, Vol. 1, Calcutta: Bengal Government Press. 

5. Cline, G.W.; (1869), “Remarks on Paper Currency in India”, India papers, British Library. 

6. Scutt Symes, G.P.; (1904), “The History of the Bank of Bengal”, The Bank of Bengal Press, Calcutta, 1st edn. 

7. Razack, Rezwan; Jhunjhunwalla, Kishore; (2012), “The Revised Standard Reference Guide to Indian Paper Money”, 1st edn., Currencies & Coins, Mumbai. 

8. This article covers concisely the engravers and printers of early paper money of India (1800-1860). The elaborate editions will be soon available in the form of a book: "From Rupees to Paper Promise - A History of Indian Paper Money" Authored by Nilaish Sharma FRNS. 

9. My sincere acknowledgement to Mr Rezwan Razack who shaped the numismatic instinct in me, in the right sense.