₹1 note, the most sought-after by collectors, turns 100

The diminutive rupee 1 note is hundred years young today. Its genesis dates back to the World War I era, where the inability to mint silver coins forced the then colonial authorities to shift to printing ₹1 notes on this day in 1917.

Over the past 100 years — the first note was introduced with the photo of King George V — the story of this princely banknote has been all but tumultuous.

The Reserve Bank website says its issuance was discontinued first in 1926 on “cost benefit considerations”. It was reintroduced in 1940, only to be discontinued in 1994 again. The little note got back to life again in 2015 on popular demand.

Unique distinctions

Even as it has gone through these travails, the ₹1 note has retained many of its unique distinctions, including being called a ‘coin’ in legalspeak. It is issued by the Government of India and not the Reserve Bank, and is the only ‘currency note’ or an asset, and not a ‘promissory note’, which is a liability.

Again, unlike other banknotes, this is not signed by the RBI Governor, but by the Finance Secretary. When introduced, the ₹1 replaced the silver coins, which was the prevalent way of storing value of the princely ₹1.

“Prices of silver surged during the World War I, so they first printed the note with a photo of the prevalent silver coin on it.

Since then, every ₹1 note has a picture of the one rupee coin of that year,” Girish Veera, a veteran collector from Dadar, central Mumbai, told PTI.

The first note had the signature of three British finance secretaries — MMS Gubbay, AC McWatters and H Denning — and every note is signed by the Finance Secretary, including 18 since the Independence, he adds.

According to Veera, the ₹1 note has been discontinued twice and underwent design overhauls at least thrice, excluding the modifications, but it remains one of the most sought-after pieces for every collector. The overhauls happened in 1940 when the British changed the features, including halving its size, and in 1949 when the government replaced British symbols with official ones of the newly-formed Republic and the last in 2016, with the reintroduction of the note in the current form, he says.

The centenary is expected to be a huge draw at the National Philatelic Exhibition starting in the megapolis today, and Mintageworld, an online museum for stamps, coins and currency notes, is commemorating the occasion by gifting a memento to each visitor.

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