Catalog
1 Pound Asiatic Banking Corporation
| Issuer | Asiatic Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865-1866 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Brown underprint with black letterpress text on cream paper. The corporation's royal charter seal is at upper centre, flanked by two oval ONE POUND denomination panels; elaborate guilloche borders frame all four sides with Sinhala and Tamil legends. The promise-to-pay text, place, date, and signatures appear in the lower portion. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain cream paper reverse bearing extensive contemporary manuscript endorsements in ink, with a partial Asiatic Banking Corporation stamp impression visible. No printed design elements are present. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Asiatic Banking Corporation was one of several British overseas banks chartered in the mid-1860s speculative boom — a period when London financiers flooded Asia with undercapitalized joint-stock institutions. This one collapsed in 1866, the same year as the Overend, Gurney & Co. failure that triggered a wider banking panic. The window between establishment and failure was narrow enough that few notes ever reached extended circulation.
Smith, Elder & Co. are better known as publishers — Thackeray, Charlotte Brontë — than as security printers, which makes their involvement here an oddity worth noting.