Catalog
1 Anna WW II Cash Coupon
| Issuer | Vithalgadh, Princely state of |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Anna |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Undated World War II emergency cash coupon printed in green on plain paper. Gujarati script inscription reading "Vithalgadh" appears at center, with the denomination stated across the lower portion of the note. A portrait vignette of the Maharaja occupies the central field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain buff-coloured paper reverse bearing a single hand-stamped serial number in black ink, positioned toward the lower right of the field, with no other printed design elements. |
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| Comments |
Vithalgadh was among the smaller Kathiawar princely states that issued emergency cash coupons during World War II, when metal coinage disappeared from circulation due to wartime commodity demands. These low-denomination paper substitutes filled the gap left by hoarded copper and bronze coins — a problem acute enough across British India that hundreds of local authorities, municipalities, and princely states produced their own stopgap scrip between roughly 1942 and 1945.
The Anna denomination places this squarely in the fractional currency problem: getting change for everyday transactions became genuinely difficult. Pick S461 is among the more obscure entries in the Kathiawar section, with documented survivors extremely rare.