2019-07-26 Fri

From 4th to 9th September, Heritage Auctions is going to offer a 10 Rupees Haj Pilgrim note issued by the RBI in 1959 for sale. Graded PMG Very Fine 30, the bidding for this item would begin on 16th August. The RBI had issued a new set of notes prefixed "HA" for Haj Pilgrims to regulate Exchange Control.

Pilgrims could travel with Haj Rupees and get them exchanged for Saudi Arabian Riyals during the Haj. These notes were returned to the RBI and exchanged with the Saudi Monetary Agency. Heritage Auctions has sold only one example of this type before. The offered note does not contain graffiti unlike other examples of this type. They only have generic pinholes.

Last year, Heritage Auctions had sold a 20 rupees colour trial specimen note issued by the Zanzibar Government in 1908, graded PMG Gem Uncirculated 65 EPQ. Zanzibar released just one series of banknotes bearing the denomination Rupees. All of them depict the dhow and fruit harvest vignettes. When they were introduced in 1908, the Zanzibar riyal was replaced. A Zanzibar riyal shared the same value as an Indian Rupee. However, the latter was more famous in the region because of the growing spice trade. The East African Shilling replaced these special Zanzibar notes in 1935.

The specimen note features a darker print for its intaglio features with a contrasting golden and pink underprint, while the notes that were actually circulated featured green inks. The offered example also contains some punched out cancels, Specimen stamps and the Waterlow and Sons Specimen circle. It’s the only example graded by PMG and also is the highest denomination to be graded. Similar Notes of the denomination 10 Rupees was sold for over $60,000.

Image Courtesy: Heritage Auctions