2018-03-27 Tue

At the time of British Raj in India, the one rupee note was the lowest denomination in banknotes. The next denomination was five rupee notes. To decrease the distance between these two denominations, a two and eight Annas note was issued as a fresh intermediate.

This banknote was issued on 2nd January 1918, it was universalized on 9th November 1918. This note was printed in England on a white handmade and molded paper. The obverse of this note depicts Blue-green Rosette with Government of India above it, relief underprint in dual tone below the central denomination panel with '2 ½' in white underprint on either side. Portrait of King George V is illustrated on an octagonal panel on the top left and consists the signature of M.M.S.Gubbay. This note depicts prefix M for Madra.

The reverse of this note illustrates G.R.I 'Gergius Rex Imperator' it is the official cipher of King George V on the top left side. The language panel is printed in the centre with eight Indian languages like Urdu, Kaithi, Bangla, Burmese, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati with the denomination in number on the top right.

Todywalla Auctions sold this very fine and Extremely Rare banknote for INR 3, 30,000 in Mumbai.

Image Courtesy: Todywalla Auctions