2018-11-01 Thu

On 30th and 31st October, Astaguru organised an auction where several interesting banknotes were offered. One of the highlights was a Government of India proof note from 1858. It’s one of the first series of notes that were circulated after the Indian Paper Currency Act of 1861 came into effect. A proof note is a sample note in which the most important aspects of the designs and features are finalised. It took three long years to finalise these designs as the proof notes were printed in 1858 while the original ones were issued in 1861.

Another interesting offering was a cancelled Rupees 100 Sicca issued in Calcutta by the Bank of Bengal on 24th April 1834. The denomination and other texts on the note are in Bengali, Persian and Kaithi. A 5 Government of India uniface note issued between 1867 and 1910 for the Bombay Circle was also offered. A note from Morvi Princely state also gained a lot of attention.

Apart from banknotes, rare postage stamps like a ½ Anna Blue Scinde Dawk stamp of 1852 were also auctioned. A set of 16 unmounted mint condition archaeological series stamps from 1949 and a set of four first Issue of Mahatma Gandhi stamps in Courvoisier original booklet were other interesting offerings from the Philatelic Section.

Image Courtesy: Astaguru Auctions