A Comprehensive Guide of Early Paper Money of India (1770-1861 A.D.): (1770-1861 A.D.)

By Nilaish

Present work is intended to bridge the long gap in the Indian numismatics concerning to the Early Banknotes of India. This work covers the period of Private and Presidency Banknotes, i.e. 1770 to 1861. The use of Banknotes in India is recorded dating to 1170 when, Bank of Hindostan, came into existence. Later, Bank of Bengal (Established 1809) in 1810 issued their currency notes in Bengal Presidency and so on and so forth, other Banks were established accordingly in the provinces of Bengal, Bombay and Madras.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Mar 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469166285

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Copyright ©2012 by Nilaish. 303592-NILA

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012905259

ISBN:       Softcover 978-1-4691-6626-1

                   Hardcover 978-1-4691-6627-8

           Ebook 978-1-4691-6628-5

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Contents

PREFACE

HOW TO USE IT . . .

PROLOGUE

BENGAL PRESIDENCY BANKNOTES

1.1 BANK OF HINDOSTAN (1770-1832 A.D.)

1.2 HINDOSTAN BANK

1.3 BANK OF BENGAL (1809-1864 A.D.)

1.4 PRIVATE BANKNOTES IN BENGAL

1.5 CONDITIONS OF CIRCULATION SET BY THE GOVERNMENT

BOMBAY PRESIDENCY BANKNOTES

2.1 BANK OF BOMBAY (1840-1861 A.D.)

2.2 PRIVATE BANKNOTES IN BOMBAY

MADRAS PRESIDENCY BANKNOTES

3.1 BANKNOTES OF MADRAS A BRIEF SURVEY

3.2 SUMMARY LEADING TO CURRENCY ACT OF 1861

SOME FORMS OF PAPER MONEY

4.1 RAILWAY COMPANY ISSUES

4.2 DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY ISSUES

4.3 QUEEN VICTORIA PORTRAIT NOTES: NEW PHASE

A NOTE FOR COLLECTORS:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Devoted to my parents:

Mrs. Kiran Sharma, B.A. & Sanjeev N. Sharma, Ph.D.

Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress.

-M.K. Gandhi

303592-NILA-ebook.pdf

Bank of Bengal, 50 Sicca Rupees, Commerce Series, proof on card (Curtsey: Garry saint Esq.)

PREFACE

Present work is intended to bridge the long gap in the Indian numismatics concerning to the Early Banknotes of India. This work covers the period of Private and Presidency Banknotes, i.e. 1770 to 1861. The use of banknotes in India is recorded dating to 1770 when, Bank of Hindostan, came into existence. Later, Bank of Bengal (Established 1809) in 1810 issued their currency notes in Bengal Presidency and so on and so forth, other Banks were established accordingly in the provinces of Bengal, Bombay and Madras.

I specially acknowledge Kishore Jhunjhunwalla and Rezwan Razack for showcasing their rare collection and ingenious knowledge of Banknotes and allowed me to use some images. I was a collector of Indian Paper Money since 1999 and maintained a close record of the developments in the research of this field. This work is possible due to Kishore Jhunjhunwalla who inspired me and taught me through his unending discussions. His willing trust on me has made this day possible. The idea and inspiration of writing this book came in my mind in 2008 when I was struggling to procure the specific date of arrival of banknotes in India. This made my will strong to suckle this book for the subject concerning to the collectors or Numismatists. I had been into long preparation of 4 years to write a book of this kind and it is possible that errors might have crept in it, because of inconsistency of the information of these banknotes. However, I have used Harvard Referencing (a referencing technique used at Harvard University, which is widely acceptable academically around the world) throughout the book and a detailed list is provided in the Bibliography. Being collector, those days I went to several libraries for the lookout of the relevant knowledge. I was surprised that a very little or hardly any literature was available to secure the goals of a collector of this nature. I was heard of only book by K. Jhunjhunwalla in this respect for its veracity and that was out of print. The revised book which is just published this year contains, pictorial catalogue of Indian paper Money from 1770 to 2011. In this book detailed information about early paper money of India can be found for the collectors and the history buffs. This book is divided into two parts in all chapters, the first part deals with the history of the early banknotes from 1770 to 1860, with some studies and the second part deals with the pictorial catalogue regarding banknotes of the three presidencies, Bengal, Bombay and Madras following the separate chapters. This book is a collective effort of many dealers and a sweet fruit of devoted learning hours with Kishore Jhunjhunwalla, which I will never forget. I devote this work to my parents, Mrs. Kiran Sharma, Prof. Dr. Sanjeev Nandan Sharma, for their ardent support and believing in my strong commitments towards Numismatics. Some banknotes in this book are from my collection, which is indicated by initials N.C. (Nilaish’ Collection). In this book I am not providing any market value of these banknotes. Interested collectors or otherwise can directly ask for e-pricelist by mail. Author welcomes the suggestions