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10 000 Rupees
| Issuer | Reserve Bank of India |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 000 Rupees (10 000) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio-printed portrait of King George VI in profile facing left, set within a central oval vignette framed by elaborate guilloche scrollwork. The issuing authority "RESERVE BANK OF INDIA" is inscribed across the top, with the guarantee clause "GUARANTEED BY THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT" below it. The promise-to-pay legend reads "I PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF TEN THOUSAND RUPEES" with the place of issue "LAHORE" at centre, flanked by oval watermark panels and decorative palm tree vignettes at either side. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Reserve Bank of India was established only in 1935, and this 10,000 Rupee note belongs to the earliest period of the bank's note-issuing activity — a denomination aimed squarely at interbank transfers and large commercial settlements, not retail use. Thomas De La Rue printed the series in London, as was standard for high-value Indian issues before the war made that arrangement logistically untenable.
The outbreak of World War II effectively ended regular shipments of banknote stock from Britain, and the 1938 series was withdrawn and demonetized relatively early. Surviving examples are scarce precisely because so few ever left the banking system in the first place.