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25 Dollars - The Central Bank of Western India Yokohama
| Issuer | Central Bank of Western India |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#S224 |
| Obverse description | The left portion of the note carries an intaglio vignette of a seated allegorical female figure, likely Justice or Britannia, posed beside a palm tree with sailing ships and a steam train visible in the background. The bank name "The Central Bank of Western India" is set in large ornate script across the upper centre, with "YOKUHAMA" and "JAPAN" above, and the denomination numeral "25" enclosed in a guilloche cartouche at upper right. Japanese characters border all four sides of the note, and the promise-to-pay text, date, and serial number occupy the right half of the face, with the denomination repeated in a decorative oval medallion at lower left and the imprint of Batho, Sprague & Co. London at lower centre. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The entire reverse is occupied by a large central guilloche medallion of fine lathe-work, within which the numeral "25" appears in bold relief at centre, flanked on each side by a circular guilloche lozenge bearing a dollar sign. The legend "CENTRAL BANK OF" arches across the top of the central medallion and "WESTERN INDIA." curves along the bottom, the whole composition enclosed within an ornate engine-turned border. The printer's imprint of Batho, Sprague & Co. London appears in small text at the foot of the design. |
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| Comments |
The Central Bank of Western India was a short-lived Bombay-based institution that collapsed in the banking crisis of 1866 — the same chain of failures that wiped out the Back Bay Reclamation speculation and triggered the implosion of the Bank of Bombay. This branch note, payable at Yokohama, reflects the bank's ambitions across the treaty ports of Asia, where expatriate commercial banking was still largely improvised.
Batho, Sprague & Co. handled a significant volume of colonial and overseas bank printing in the 1860s before being absorbed into the trade. The Yokohama payability makes surviving examples unusually rare — the branch had virtually no time to operate before the parent institution failed the same year the note was issued.