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20 Sicca Rupees Calcutta Bank
| Issuer | Calcutta Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1824-1829 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse bears the issuer name 'Calcutta' at upper left, with the promise text panel flanked on either side by manuscript serial number panels. Above the promise text panel at right appears a manuscript date alongside the printed year '18xx'. The denomination is rendered in words and numerals in Bangla and Kaithi scripts, and in words only in Persian, above a central vignette, with a denomination panel at lower left; the note is completed by a manuscript authorising signature and the printed legend 'For the Calcutta Bank'. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a central ornamental rectangular panel enclosing the legend 'Calcutta Bank' in Gothic lettering, surrounded by an elaborate engraved guilloche border with decorative rope-twist and rosette corner ornaments. |
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| Comments |
The Calcutta Bank was chartered in 1824 and collapsed just five years later, making its note issues among the shortest-lived of any Indian presidency bank. This 20 Sicca Rupee note falls within that entire window of operation — there was no "early" or "late" period to speak of.
The sicca rupee was a Bengal-specific denomination, heavier than the surat rupee and officially valued at a slight premium. Its use on private bank paper in the 1820s was already becoming anachronistic; the East India Company was actively working toward a unified coinage standard that would render the sicca obsolete by 1836.
Surviving examples from any Calcutta Bank issue are genuinely rare — the bank's failure triggered a financial panic in Bengal, and redemption pressure would have pulled most notes out of circulation quickly.