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200 Dollars
| Issuer | Agra & United Service Bank, Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 200 Dollars |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio-printed note with an elaborate engraved border of guilloche rosettes at each corner and ornate frame rules throughout. A central royal coat of arms vignette is flanked by denomination panels reading $200 at left and right, with the legend INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER arching across the top. Chinese characters in vertical columns appear at both lateral margins, and the promise-to-pay text in copperplate script reads: 'The Agra & United Service Bank, Limited Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Office here TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS or the equivalent in the Currency of the Island. Value received,' followed by 'By order of the Court of Directors,' with manuscript lines for Ent., Acc., and MANAGER at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER $200 No HONG KONG, 18 THE AGRA & UNITED SERVICE BANK, LIMITED Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Office here TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS or the equivalent in the Currency of the Island. Value received. By order of the Court of Directors, Ent'd ACC't MANAGER John Rider & Co. 37 Cheapside London |
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| Comments |
The Agra & United Service Bank was incorporated in London in 1833 to serve British India, principally financing trade between Calcutta, Bombay, and the London money market. By 1862 it had extended operations into Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements, which explains the dollar denomination — rupee-denominated paper would have been commercially useless in those treaty ports. The bank collapsed spectacularly in 1866, one of several Indian agency houses destroyed by the credit crisis triggered by Overend, Gurney & Co.'s failure, and its notes were withdrawn.
The printer address of 37 Cheapside points to Perkins, Bacon & Co., whose London premises were at that address during this period — though the note itself may not carry an explicit imprint crediting them by name.