1000 Rupees

Nepal Rastra Bank was established only in 1956, and its early high-denomination notes were entirely dependent on foreign security printers. Thomas De La Rue handled this series, as they did much of South and Southeast Asian currency production during the post-colonial decades — a practical arrangement for a small central bank without domestic intaglio facilities.

The 1972 date places this note in the reign of King Birendra, who had ascended just that year following Mahendra's death in January. Pick 21 is not a common survival; 1000-rupee notes of this period rarely returned to the banking system in quantity, and attrition through informal hoarding was high.