Catalog
100 Rupees
| Issuer | Reserve Bank of India |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937-1943 |
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| Size | 170 × 110 mm |
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| Obverse description | Printed in bottle green, lavender, and salmon on machine-made paper, the obverse carries an intricate guilloche underprint framing the central promise-to-pay text. A right-facing portrait vignette of King George VI in full regalia occupies the right side, while an oval watermark panel is reserved at left. The issuing office designation 'BOMBAY' appears in red overprint above the central text panel, with denomination numerals '100' at upper right and serial numbers repeated at lower left and lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Signature(s) | place of issue: Bombay - Taylor place of issue: Bombay watermark: King in profile - Deshmukh place of issue: Bombay watermark: King facing - Deshmukh black serial # (Block B/86) place of issue: Bombay watermark: King facing - Deshmukh green serial # (Block B/87 & B/88) place of issue: Calcutta - Taylor place of issue: Calcutta watermark: King in profile - Deshmukh place of issue: Calcutta watermark: King facing - Deshmukh place of issue: Cawnpore - Taylor place of issue: Cawnpore watermark: King in profile - Deshmukh place of issue: Kanpur watermark: King facing green serial # - Deshmukh place of issue: Delhi - Deshmukh place of issue: Karachi - Deshmukh serial # prefix A63, A69 & A96 place of issue: Lahore - Taylor place of issue: Lahore - Deshmukh place of issue: Madras - Taylor place of issue: Madras watermark: King in profile - Deshmukh place of issue: Madras watermark: King facing - Deshmukh place of issue: Karachi - Taylor |
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| Comments |
The transition from Taylor to Deshmukh across this series marks one of the most consequential personnel changes in Indian central banking history. C.D. Deshmukh, appointed in 1943, was the first Indian to serve as Governor of the Reserve Bank — his signature variants on this note are not merely catalog distinctions but a direct record of that transfer of authority during wartime administration.
The watermark progression from "King in profile" to "King facing" reflects a deliberate security upgrade mid-series, creating the overlapping varieties that make P#20 one of the more granularly cataloged colonial Indian issues. Karachi-issued examples with specific prefix blocks (A63, A69, A96) are tracked separately, likely due to post-Partition provenance complications that make clean attribution difficult. The Cawnpore/Kanpur naming inconsistency between signature variants reflects the official renaming of the city during the series' active span.