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100 Rupees Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China
| Issuer | Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1870 |
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| Size | 199 x 115 mm |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on white paper. The British Royal Arms vignette is centred at top, flanked by two oval counters each bearing the denomination "100 RUPEES". The full bank title and promise-to-pay text are inscribed in script lettering across the centre, with Sinhalese and Tamil denomination legends along the top and bottom borders. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CEYLON BRANCH රුපියල් සියයයි நூறு ரூபாய் 100 RUPEES INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER COLOMBO, 1st Jany. 1870 THE CHARTERED MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA, LONDON & CHINA Promises to pay the Bearer on demand here ONE HUNDRED RUPEES, value received. By order of the Court of Directors, Entd. ACCOUNTT. MANAGER PERKINS, BACON & Co, LONDON. (Translation: One hundred rupees.) |
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| Comments |
The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was established by royal charter in 1853, primarily to finance the Indo-Chinese opium and cotton trades. By 1870, its network ran from Bombay to Shanghai, and notes like this one circulated across multiple British colonial ports simultaneously — legally payable in rupees but practically useful wherever the bank maintained an agency.
Perkins, Bacon & Co. held long-standing relationships with colonial banking institutions throughout this period, their steel-engraved intaglio work being considered sufficiently difficult to counterfeit for circulation in markets with limited access to anti-forgery expertise. The Chartered Mercantile Bank was absorbed into the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China in 1892, ending the issuing authority entirely.