5000 Rupees Bank of Western India, Bombay

The Bank of Western India was incorporated in London in 1842 and failed spectacularly in 1848, making its operational window extraordinarily brief. A 5000 Rupee denomination places this firmly in the category of wholesale trade instruments — no ordinary depositor ever handled one. At that face value, the note would have moved between merchants, agency houses, and the bank itself, rarely if ever leaving ledger-room circulation.

Batho & Bingley operated from London, which meant these notes crossed the Atlantic before a single transaction. The bank collapsed before it could establish the branch network its founders envisioned, and most paper was called in or simply voided at failure. Survivors are exceptionally rare by default.