Catalog
50 Rupees
| Issuer | Afghanistan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Black on green underprint. The design is printed in letterpress within an elaborate ornamental border of interlocking arabesques and cartouches. A central oval vignette at top contains a mosque dome motif within a beaded frame, flanked by two tughra seals. The denomination '50' appears in numeral cartouches at lower left and right corners, with the value also inscribed in Dari script at upper left and right. Serial number and Afghan year 1298 appear in large Eastern-Arabic numerals across the central panel, with a bold calligraphic inscription below. Multiple marginal inscriptions in Naskh script carry additional official legends. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in pale grey-green, largely as an offset impression of the obverse design, giving it a ghost-printed appearance consistent with uniface notes of this era. A central vignette shows a royal figure within a sunburst frame, and the same ornamental border of arabesques frames the composition. A purple circular official stamp is visible at the right side of the note. |
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| Comments |
India's Treasury-issued rupee notes of the WWI and immediate post-war period were a direct consequence of the Government of India Act and the strain wartime silver demands placed on coin production. The Bombay and Calcutta mints were diverting metal to coinage for military pay, making paper substitutes administratively necessary rather than optional.
The P#4 series is thinly documented, and surviving examples are genuinely uncommon — not because of any known destruction program, but likely due to low original print runs and hard use in a climate hostile to paper.