Rs 1 turns 100 Coin collector brings out book

BENGALURU: Did you know that Re 1 was first printed in a hospital? Rezwan Razack, an avid collector of Indian banknotes and paper money, has found such lesser known facts and documented them in his book One Rupee One Hundred Years.

Rezwan says, “The Re 1 took birth at St Luke’s Hospital in 1917. An order was given to Bank of England to print more currency notes but they didn’t have space. The bank bought over the hospital building to expand. They set up presses there, put steel on the doors to make it secure and the currency was born in these circumstances.”

The date for the launch was a coincidence, he says. “I started working on this book three months ago. I was writing an article on the inception of this currency for an international journal. During a meeting with the International Bank Note Society, I was fascinated by the idea of documenting the entire journey of the Re 1. A better date could not have been fixed as the currency was born on November 30, 1917. I feel ecstatic,” he adds.

He says his personal favourite Re 1 currency is that of Portugese India. But he is also fascinated with the currency that came as a booklet with 25 leaves. “It was like a cheque book. People took out the booklet, tore a leaf and used to exchange for a silver coin which would weigh a little less than 11 g. In 1917, that was the value of Re 1,” he says.

Today, one hardly gets to see a Re 1 note as it has less value. “Whoever gets it does not circulate the note. They keep it as a souvenir,” he adds.

Rezwan says that documenting them in a book was not a challenge as he had already worked on a book on all denominations called Standard Reference Guide to Indian Paper Money. “It wasn’t difficult for me to put this together. I just had to look for specific information on Re 1. I visited Britain and spent time in The British Library to access the archive sections and gathered all the facts. You need to take an appointment to access those documents,” he says.

Lesser-known facts about Re 1

In Republic India, Re 1 was being printed in Nasik, from 1949 to 2017.
The watermark paper for print came from England. Since 1968, it’s being manufactured in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh.
The alphabets O or I are not used as prefixes of the serial number on the notes, so that it is not confused with the number 0 and 1.
In 1935, it was printed with the portrait of King of Portugal John V. After his death, 250 million notes were stored in England. When there was a shortage of silver in 1940, these notes were imported. It is said that this is the only incidence where new issue was made after the death of a king.