Banknote Index

India Portrait One Rupee Notes Part 1 of 3

The first One rupee notes released in 1917 have not been fully understood by Collectors in the Western World mainly due to incorrect descriptions in catalogues and until recently reluctance to be taken seriously by Commonwealth collectors.

ONE RUPEE 1917

Released in late 1917 the One Rupee note has an effigy of a One rupee Coin depicting King George V and the value written in words in the centre. The signature of the note (The person who was Controller of Currency at the time) was found in the lower part of the note just off centre to the right. The Serial Number is displayed in 2 places lower left and upper right. The value 1 and the word RUPEE is in the lower left corner and the upper right. In words reading from the top "Government of India I promise to pay the bearer the sum of ONE RUPEE on demand at any office of issue for the GOVERNMENT OF INDIA". The watermark could be viewed in the lower right hand corner there are 2 types an explanation is below. Serial numbers were actually branch issue indicators as explained below. (Until universalisation was implemented in late 1918).The back of the note has the reverse of the One Rupee coin dated 1917 the Royal cipher for King George V, and has eight language panels in the various languages used in India. Urdu, Devanagari, Bengali, Oriya, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Gujarati; Interestingly the language panel for the language in Gujarati (position 8 at the bottom) was incorrect as the correct term was substituted with Rupaya not Rupayo and was not corrected until universalisation came into being.

Therefore ALL circle issue notes as listed below have the Gujarati language as incorrect. The notes were distributed in 1917 were issued in a pack of 25 unstapled or attached by perforation this led to some packs being more than 25 and some less. This was rectified by a booklet being issued in 1919 which resembled a small chequebook and had advertising slogans promoting government business on the inside of the front red cover.

Watermark

There were only 2 types of watermark the first was a Star in a Square the second is a Rayed Star. All circle and Gubbay signed notes have the square type watermark. All Denning signed notes have the Rayed Star watermark. The signature of McWatters can have both type 1 and type 2 watermarks.

The changeover of signatures from Gubbay to McWatters occurred in Prefix J (Although prefix X has both Gubbay & McWatters signatures they were issued for the East Africa protectorate*) whereas Mc Watters to Denning in Prefix S. Notes of Denning Signature only carry prefix S.
The Watermark was changed in prefix P from an enclosed star to a rayed star. Therefore differences in signature and watermark occur under the McWatters tenure.

*It should be noted that serial number prefixes X,Y,Z were issued for use in the East Africa protectorate to differentiate them from the notes issued for India. Prefix X was released early under the Gubbay signature and was replaced with the McWatters signature during this issue all other prefixes carry the McWatters signature only. The watermark for the East African issues has only been observed as the enclosed star type 1. Apart from the serial prefix there are no other distinguishing features that make it different to the Domestic issues.

* all notes of this type can be considered Scarce at least

It was decided in 1918 that lower denomination notes no longer needed circle identification and Universal prefixes were then adopted starting with the letter D. Some have incorrectly determined D was for circle Delhi however this was not the case until used on Rs100 notes of the Reserve Bank of India post 1943 as they only carry the signature of C.D. Deshmukh.

The first issues of the letter D prefixes also have the incorrect Gujarati text on the back, this was corrected late in the series. However very early examples of prefix E notes also have the incorrect Gujarati text but corrected in the prefix much earlier than was the case with the letter D. Incorrect Gujarati text has been reported as far down as letter H, However only D & E prefixes have been observed by the writer with correct/incorrect Gujarati text.* Once again the signature of M.M.S. Gubbay is apparent and the watermark type 1 as described earlier.

* If other prefixes of incorrect Gujarati are known please contact this site

Gujarati Language Panel Examples

The images below were chosen as they have unique markings which can be verified when looking at both sides of the note – folds, holes, rust marks etc.