250 Company Rupees Union Bank, Calcutta

The Union Bank of Calcutta collapsed spectacularly in 1848, one of the most damaging bank failures in British India's financial history. This note, dated 1847, was issued in the final year before that collapse — the bank had been overextended for years, propped up partly by connections to indigo trading interests that were themselves under pressure. When the bank went down, it took a substantial portion of Calcutta's mercantile credit with it.

Surviving examples from this series are genuinely rare. The failure meant outstanding notes became worthless almost immediately, and most were either discarded or destroyed during the subsequent liquidation proceedings.