2016-09-19 Mon

The reign of King George V influenced not only his Empire but also the currency. Famously known as ‘Dull man’, King George V is known for a varied currency system.

During that time the one rupee note was the lowest denomination and next was the Rs. Five note. Hence, to lessen the distance between these two denominations; a two and half rupee note was issued as a fresh intermediate.

Issued on 2nd January 1918, the Obverse of this notes have a Blue-green Rosette with Government of India above it. A relief under-print in dual tone is seen below the central denomination panel. The portrait of King George V is within an octagonal panel on the top left. Signed M.M.S.Gubbay, the note depicts “prefix C for Calcutta”.

The reverse bears G.R.I (Stands for Gergius Rex Imperator) – the official cipher of King George V in the top left. Eight Indian languages like Urdu, Kaithi, Bangla, Burmese, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Gujarati are seen in the centre.

This note was, soon, removed from the circulation as it did not work in public space. This particular specimen is graded 'About Uncirculated'. That is why this note is extremely rare and was sold at hammer price of INR 6, 40,000 by Todywalla Auctions held on 2nd December, 2015 in Mumbai .