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6 Annas Calcutta; Hundi promissory note
| Issuer | Private mercantile issue, Calcutta |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Rupee (1770-1947) |
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| Obverse description | Handwritten hundi in Devanagari script on cream laid paper, with a circular embossed revenue stamp of the Calcutta Stamp Office visible in the upper right area. The text is written diagonally across the face in dense ink strokes, with numerals and merchant notations in the upper left corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse bears a large circular embossed watermark vignette in the upper left, with pre-printed Devanagari text forming a pale underprint across the entire surface. Overwritten endorsements in bold ink script appear diagonally, along with a small rectangular ink stamp at centre, and additional handwritten notations at lower register. |
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| Comments |
Hundis occupy a category entirely outside state-issued currency — they are instruments of the indigenous Indian credit system, legally binding promissory obligations that moved money across vast distances without physical coin ever changing hands. The Calcutta mercantile community relied on them heavily through the colonial period, particularly for trade settlement between interior markets and the Bengal port economy. A hundi denominated in annas rather than rupees suggests a small-value retail or petty credit transaction, the kind generated in volume by cloth merchants and grain dealers rather than the large banking houses.
The embossed stamp is the operative authentication mark here — without it, the instrument had no legal standing under the Negotiable Instruments Act.