Indian Paper Money, Illustrated Guide Book by Sk Imtiaj

Indian Paper Money, Illustrated Guide Book

by Sk Imtiaj

Book Review

Book Cover (Source: Amazon)

There are several books and catalogues on Indian stamps and coins but for Indian paper currency there have been only a couple of books and catalogues. Information provided in this couple of books have been far from exhaustive.

Its true that the number of stamp and coin collectors far exceed the number of note collectors but the serious note collectors were always in need for a extensive catalogue or a detailed book on Indian Paper Currency.

Sk. Imtiaj‘s newly published book titled Indian Paper Money, Illustrated Guide Book provides an extensive insight into the paper currency of India.

It is an extensive cataloging of Indian paper currency from the Presidency Notes of British India right to the present day.

The self published, almost 500 page, books comes in with a jacket and high quality colour prints of notes. The photos contains extensive coverage on water marks, finer details and the serial numbers.

Sk. Imtiaz (third from right) during the book launch (Source: Face Book)

The book also provides several tables with Prefix, Issuing Circle, Rarity (Scare, Rare and Very Rare) and along with the price of uncirculated (UNC), extra fine (EX) and very fine (VF). This is extremely useful for collectors.

The book also contains pop up boxes of the Finance Secretary and the Governor of West Bengal, which includes photo and signature along with brief bio. But this info is scattered across the book an appendix table would have been more user friendly.

The main focus of the book is on note serial number and prefix. The author have made extensive research on finding the highest possible prefix for every possible published note. His research have been supported by photographic documentation.

Sk, Imtiaz (Source: Face Book)

There have been extensive coverage on split, mule and star note series. This part is extremely useful for serious collectors.

But for beginners and non collectors a bit of explanation of the terms would have been more helpful. The book also lacks an index, making searching difficult.

The book has a extensive coverage on Persian Gulf Issue and Haj Pilgrim Issue note along with Hyderabad State Notes. There is also extensive coverage of Portuguese and French India notes.

First edition of Imtiaz’s book have already been sold out and the work for the next edition is already on.

We are all looking forward for a improved version with an index and several appendix like the list of Governors of Reserve Bank and Finance Secretary. Hope the second edition will contain explanation of technical terms like split and mule making it more user friendly for novice collectors. Hope the next improved edition will not only target collectors but also researchers working on the financial history of the country.

About the author: Sk. Imtiaj is a Professor of Electronics and Communication and fascinated about Indian coins and notes. He is a collector himself and has done extensive research on Indian Paper Currency. Last but not least Imtiaj is a friend and colleague.

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