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My new collection a Gold Mohur Note!


Note: Bank of Bengal was originally established as Bank of Calcutta in 1806 and later in 1809 it received Charter from Governor General in Council, Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto commonly referred as, Lord Minto in India. The bank issued banknotes as early as 1810 in the Bengal Presidency. Gold Mohur notes were issued from 1816 as mentioned by Symes (1904). The design advanced and so the printing technology. The Perkins Heath steel hardened plates were used to print the notes between 1822 and 1836 (?). The notes were circulated in lieu of a Gold Mohur (Shown above) coin! The signatures were cut off, if they were paid off or sometimes officials left very few notes with the CANCELLED stamp only. These notes (Shown above) which contain signatures intact are exceedingly rare. After a long wait of 12 years, I am able to have this example ... what a lovely note!

Please note that this note is stolen from my collection. 

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

Copyright by Nilaish, Esq. All rights reserved. 

Comments

  1. Thats very sad to know that someone did anything as such like stealing this piece of history.

    Great blog Sir. I have become a fan. Regards

    ReplyDelete

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