Indian Banknotes Philately Coins Stamps: August 2008

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Animals on republic india banknotes,jaipur king photo

India's Independence Day is celebrated on August 15 to commemorate its independence from the British rule and its birth as a sovereign nation on that day in 1947. The day is a national holiday in India. It is celebrated all over the country through flag-hoisting ceremony. The main celebration takes place in New Delhi, where the Prime Minister hoists the National Flag at the Red Fort and delivers a nationally televised speech from its ramparts. In his speech, he highlights the achievements of his government during the past year, raises important issues and gives a call for further development. The Prime Minister also pays his tribute to leaders of the freedom struggle.
On 3 June 1947, Viscount Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of the British Indian Empire into India and Pakistan, under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947. At the stroke of midnight, on 15 August 1947, India became an independent nation. This was preceded by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's famous speech titled Tryst with destiny.
“ At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance..... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.
Upon independence, India was given Dominion status by the British. At Prime Minister Nehru's and his deputy Sardar Vallabhai Patel's request, Lord Mountbatten continued to be the Governor General of India. Governor General is equivalent to the current Indian President status. He continued in office until June 1949. Thereafter Chakravarti Rajagopalachari became the Governor General. He was in office until 1950. In all these years (until 1950), King George VI continued as the King of India.

Vallabhai Patel took on the responsibility of unifying 565 princely states, steering efforts by his “iron fist in a velvet glove” policies, exemplified by the use of military force to integrate Junagadh and Hyderabad state into India.

British india banknotes GEORGE VI notes

The Act of 1858, in transferring power from the Honourable East India Company to the Crown, established a new system of government. The Court of Directors, Court of Proprietors, and Board of Control were replaced by a Secretary of State for India (a cabinet minister of the British government), assisted by a Council, which he was required to consult, except in matters of urgency. Members of the Secretary of State's Council were at first appointed for life, later for ten years. A Viceroy & Governor General was to be appointed, normally for a five year term of office, and was to reside in India, and supreme authority in India was the Viceroy's. All executive orders and all legislation were made in the name of 'the Governor General in Council
The three longest established Provinces of British India were the Madras Presidency (established 1640), the Bombay Presidency (the Honourable East India Company's headquarters were at Bombay from 1687), and the Bengal Presidency (established 1690). To these were added: Ajmer-Merwara (ceded by Sindhia of Gwalior in 1818); Coorg (annexed 1834); the North-Western Provinces (established 1835 out of the Bengal Presidency, later renamed the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh; Punjab (established 1849); Nagpur Province (created 1853, merged into Central Provinces 1861); the Central Provinces (created 1861 from Nagpur Province and the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories, renamed the Central Provinces and Berar 1903); Burma (lower Burma annexed 1852, made a province 1862, upper Burma added 1886, separated from British India 1937); Assam (separated from Bengal 1874); Andaman and Nicobar Islands (established as a province 1875); Baluchistan (organized into a province 1887); North-West Frontier Province (created 1901 out of districts of the Punjab Province); East Bengal (separated from Bengal 1905, but reintegrated 1912); Bihar and Orissa (separated from Bengal 1912, renamed Bihar 1935; Orissa (separated from Bihar 1935); Delhi (separated from Punjab 1912, when it became the capital of British India); Aden (separated from Bombay Presidency as a province of India, 1932, became Crown Colony of Aden, 1937); Sindh (separated from Bombay 1935); Panth-Piploda (new province, 1942).

There were seventeen remaining Provinces of British India at the time of partition and independence: Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Baluchistan, Bengal Province, Bihar, Bombay Province, Central Provinces and Berar, Coorg, Delhi Province, Madras Province, North-West Frontier Province, Panth-Piploda, Orissa, Punjab, Sindh, and the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.

Of these, three, Baluchistan, the North-West Frontier, and Sindh became parts of Pakistan, while two more, Bengal and Punjab, were partitioned between India and Pakistan, and the remainder became provinces of the Union of India.

Hyderabad Nizam Bank notes

The first Nizams ruled on behalf of the Mughal emperors. But, after the death of Aurangazeb, the Nizams split away from the Mughals to form their kingdom. When the British achieved paramountcy over India, the Nizams were allowed to continue to rule their princely states. The Nizams retained power over Hyderabad State until its annexation into the Indian Union in 1948, after Indian independence.

The Asaf Jah dynasty had only seven rulers; however there was a period of 13 years after the rule of the first Nizam when three of his sons (Nasir Jung, Muzafar Jung and Salabath Jung) ruled. They were not officially recognized as the rulers.

A legend about the first Nizam states that, on one of his hunting trips he was offered some kulchas (an Indian bread) by a holy man and was asked to eat as many as he could. The Nizam could eat seven kulchas and the holy man then prophesied that seven generations of his family would rule the state.

The Nizams, by an honored Hyderabad tradition that no Nizam has ever left India no matter how good a reason might exist for doing so, they believed, "the Sovereign is too precious to his people ever to leave India.".

Ever since Hyderabad stood aloof from the great first war of Indian Independence of 1857 while betraying many Indians and also at time acting against those who opposed the British such as Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan, its Royal Family have been accorded by British Royalty special honors and the Nizam was given the official status of Faithful Ally.

Nether india coins VOC nagapatnam coin

In 1602 the States General of the United Provinces, known as the Netherlands, chartered the United East India Company (the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, called the VOC) with the mission of exploring for a passage to the Indies and claiming any unchartered territories for the United Provinces. On September 3, 1609 the English explorer Henry Hudson, on behalf of the United East India Company, entered the area now known as New York in an attempt to find a northwest passage to the Indies. He searched every costal inlet and on the 12th took his ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon), up the river which now bears his name, as far as Albany and claimed the land for his employer. Although no passage was discovered the area turned out to be one of the best fur trading regions in North America.

As early as 1611 the Dutch merchant Arnout Vogels set sail in the ship St. Pieter for what was probably the first Dutch trading expedition to the Hudson Bay. This secretive mission was so successful in 1612 Vogels chartered the ship Fortuyn which made two, back to back trips to the area. The initial trip of the Fortuyn was under the command of Captain Adriaen Block. Two months before the Fortuyn returned on her second trip, Adriaen Block landed in Hudson Bay in a different ship. Block did not try to keep his activities a secret, he traded liquor, cloth, firearms and trinkets for beaver and otter pelts; however, before he could leave the Hudson for an early spring crossing to Amsterdam he saw the arrival of another Dutch ship, the Jonge Tobias, under the command of Thijs Volckertsz Mossel. Competition to exploit the newly discovered land was underway.

On October 11, 1614 merchants from the cities of Amsterdam and Hoorn formed The New Netherland Company receiving a three year monopoly for fur trading in the newly discovered region from the States General of the United Provinces. In 1615 the company erected Fort Orange on Castle Island near Albany and began trading with the Indians for furs. Although merchants came to New Netherland for business purposes, the area was not colonized and at the end of the three year period the company's monopoly was not renewed. At that point the land was opened to all Dutch traders. Eventually the States General decided to grant an monopoly to a company that would colonized the area. There was a need to have a permanent political presence in their colonies in New Netherland, Brazil and Africa against the possibility of an English, French or Spanish challenge.
The Dutch West India Company and Colonization

In 1621 the newly incorporated Dutch West India Company (the Westindische Compagnie or WIC) obtained a twenty four year trading monopoly in America and Africa and sought to have the New Netherland area formally recognized as a province. Once provincial status was granted in June of 1623 the company began organizing the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland. On March 29, 1624 the ship, Nieu Nederlandt (New Netherland) departed with the first wave of settlers, consisting not of Dutch but rather of thirty Flemish Walloon families. The families were spread out over the entire territory claimed by the company. To the north a few families were left at the mouth of the Connecticut River, while to the south some families were settled at Burlington Island on the Delaware River. Others were left on Nut Island, now called Governor's Island, at the mouth of the Hudson) River, while the remaining families were taken up the Hudson to Fort Orange (Albany). Later in 1624 and through 1625 six additional ships sailed for New Netherland with colonists, livestock and supplies.

It soon became clear the northern and southern outposts were untenable and so had to be abandoned. Also, due to a war between the Mohawk and Mahican tribes in 1625, the women and children at Fort Orange were forced to move to safety. At this point, in the spring of 1626, the Director General of the company, Peter Minuit, came to the province. Possibly motivated to erect a safe haven for the families forced to leave Fort Orange, at some point between May 4 and June 26, 1626 Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Indians for some 60 guilders worth of trinkets. He immediately started the construction of Fort New Amsterdam under the direction of the company engineer Cryn Fredericksz.

Because of the dangers and hardships of life in a new land some colonists decided to return to the homeland in 1628. By 1630 the total population of New Netherland was about 300, many being French speaking Walloons. It is estimated about 270 lived in the area surrounding Fort Amsterdam, primarily working as farmers, while about 30 were at Fort Orange, the center of the Hudson valley fur trade with the Mohawks.

New Netherland was a company owned and operated business, run on a for profit basis by the directors of the West India Company. The intent of the firm was to make a profit for the investors who had purchased shares in the company. WIC paid skilled individuals, as doctors and craftsmen, to move to New Netherland and also sent over over and paid soldiers for military protection of the settlements; the company also built forts and continually sent over provisions for the settlers. All the New Netherland positions one would usually consider government or public service jobs, were in fact, company jobs held by WIC employees. Laws were made by the company appointed Director General in the province with the consent of the company directors in Amsterdam; even the New Netherland provincial treasury was actually the company treasury. All taxes, fines and trading profits went to the company and the company paid the bills. Basically the company profit was whatever was left after expenses had been paid (it should be noted expenses included ample salaries for the Amsterdam directors). WIC soon discovered the expenses associated with establishing and expanding a new colony were considerable. In order to increase their profit margin the company sought to find what might be thought of as subcontractors. The first attempt at partnerships was the Patroonship plan.

Portuguese india

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama first visited India in 1498. Portugal soon became the first European nation to establish colonies in India, and for many years enjoyed a profitable monopoly on European trade with India. With the coming of the British and Dutch in the 17th century, Portuguese power declined, until all that was left were three minor outposts on the west coast of India. In 1961, after years of preaching non-violence, the Indian armed forces invaded these last remaining outposts and forcibly annexed them, thus bringing an end to this long series of colonial coins. We offer the 1961 Portuguese India 10 Centavos in Uncirculated condition. It saw the last coin produced before the Indian invasion. The coin features the arms of Portuguese India.

Denmark indian colony coins rare

Denmark established its first colony in India in 1620. A mint was later established to provide coinage for the colonies. Its coins tended to be small crude pieces that were hand struck from hand engraved dies. Due to falling profits and increasing costs of maintaining the colonies, Denmark sold its possessions in India to the British East India Company in 1845, thus bringing an end to its colonial era and the, coinage of Danish India. We recently obtained a hoard of these small, scarce, crude copper coins of Danish India. We have not had time to sort through the coins, so will offer them as they come. Because the coins are crudely struck grading them is sometimes difficult, so we will just call them crude and worn.
The trade was maintained with purchased pieces of eight which could be exchanged for Indian silver and gold coins on demand. The treaty with the nayak of Tanjore did not give the Danes the right to mint their own coins at Tranquebar. In fact no permission was needed for minting small coins as long as they were for use only within their own territory.

During the first 80 years or so, the smallest payments and trading transactions in the colony e.g. the fee for a stand and payment of duty for importing and exporting goods were enable by minting coins of the value of 1 kas and some few of the value of 2 kas, mainly in lead but a few in copper and from 1689 exclusively in copper. During the reign of Frederik IV the first silver coins were minted as well as 2, 4 and 10 kas coins in copper.

Tranquebar is the only place outside Denmark where the Danes minted extensively for their own local use. Many of the coins have inscription with Danish ship names or the name of a Danish Town. From Frederik III many of the coins bear the Danish coat-of-arms as inscription. There are minted several diffrent types (kas) in lead from the kings Christian IV to Christian V, and copper-coins from Frederik III to Christian VIII. Silver-coins are minted from Fredrik IV to Frederik VI and one gold-coin from Christian VII. The last Danish coin minted in Tranquebar, are a copper 4 kas from 1845, the same year Tranquebar was sold to England.

1819 to1890 Bank of Bengal Documents very rare

History of Banking in India
India has been one of the earliest issuers of coins in the world (6th Century BC). The origin of the word "rupee" is found in the word rup or rupa, which means "silver" in many Indo-Aryan languages such as Hindi. The Sanskrit word rupyakam means coin of silver. The derivative word Rupaya was used to denote the coin introduced by Sher Shah Suri during his reign from 1540 to 1545 CE. The original Rupaya was a silver coin weighing 175 grains troy (about 11.34 grams) [1]. The coin has been used since then, even during the times of British India. Formerly the rupee was divided into 16 annas, 64 paise, or 192 pies. Decimalisation occurred in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1869,
A huge divide between silver-based and gold-based economies resulted. The worst affected were economies with silver standard that traded mainly with economies with gold standard. With discovery of more and more silver reserves, those currencies based on gold continued to rise in value and those based on silver were declining due to demonetization of silver. For India which carried out most of its trade with gold based nations, especially Britain, the impact of this shift was profound. As the price of silver continued to fall, so too did the exchange value of the rupee, when measured against pound sterling.
Without a sound and effective banking system in India it cannot have a healthy economy. The banking system of India should not only be hassle free but it should be able to meet new challenges posed by the technology and any other external and internal factors.
For the past three decades India's banking system has several outstanding achievements to its credit. The most striking is its extensive reach. It is no longer confined to only metropolitans or cosmopolitans in India. In fact, Indian banking system has reached even to the remote corners of the country. This is one of the main reasons of India's growth process.
The government's regular policy for Indian bank since 1969 has paid rich dividends with the nationalisation of 14 major private banks of India.

Not long ago, an account holder had to wait for hours at the bank counters for getting a draft or for withdrawing his own money. Today, he has a choice. Gone are days when the most efficient bank transferred money from one branch to other in two days. Now it is simple as instant messaging or dial a pizza. Money have become the order of the day.

The first bank in India, though conservative, was established in 1786. From 1786 till today, the journey of Indian Banking System can be segregated into three distinct phases. They are as mentioned below:
• Early phase from 1786 to 1969 of Indian Banks
The East India Company established Bank of Bengal (1819), Bank of Bombay (1844) and Bank of Madras (1845) as independent units and called it Presidency Banks. These three banks were amalgamated in 1920 and Imperial Bank of India was established which started as private shareholders banks, mostly Europeans shareholders.

In 1869 Allahabad Bank was established and first time exclusively by Indians, Punjab National Bank Ltd. was set up in 1894 with headquarters at Lahore. Between 1906 and 1913, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, and Bank of Mysore were set up. Reserve Bank of India came in 1935.
The site for bank was carefully selected, being protected by the Hooghly River on the west, a creek to the north, and by salt lakes about two and a half miles to the east. There were three large villages along the east bank of the river Ganges, named, Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata. These three villages were bought by the British from local land lords. The Mughal emperor granted East India Company freedom of trade in return for a yearly payment of 3,000 rupees.

Kolkata was just a village before the British came to India; the capital city of Bengal was Murshidabad, around 60 miles north of Kolkata. In 1756, Siraj-ud-daullah, Nawab of Bengal, attacked the city and captured the fort. Kolkata was recaptured in 1757 by Robert Clive when the British defeated Siraj-ud-daullah on the battle field of Plassey. In 1772, Kolkata became the capital of British India, and the first Governor General Warren Hastings moved all important offices from Murshidabad to Kolkata. Till 1912, Kolkata was the capital of India, when the British moved the capital city to Delhi. In 1947, When India gained freedom and the country got partitioned between India and Pakistan, Kolkata became the capital city of the state of West Bengal.