Catalog
2.5 Rupias
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1924 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | A central vignette of a tiger in repose occupies the middle of the note, flanked on either side by framed panels bearing serial numbers and language inscriptions. The denomination numeral '2½' appears at each of the four corners, while the issuing bank's name and place of issue are inscribed along the upper register, with the date rendered in full along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO NOVA GOA DUAS RUPIAS E MEIA LISBOA, 1deJANEIROde1924 |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino's fractional Rupia denominations for Portuguese India are among the more obscure colonial issues in the De La Rue catalogue. The 2½ Rupias denomination was a practical response to local pricing habits in Goa, Daman, and Diu, where the subdivision of the Rupia into smaller transactional units remained commercially necessary long after equivalent fractional notes had disappeared from metropolitan Portuguese circulation.
De La Rue produced the series under contract arrangements typical of their colonial banking clients in this period. The 1924 dating places it during a run of reissues rather than an inaugural printing — BNU had been circulating Rupia-denominated paper in Portuguese India since the nineteenth century.