20th January, 2025: Tezbid.com, India’s leading digital numismatic store, has launched two new collections of old banknotes, Unrecognized Countries and British India.
Banknotes of British India have always been popular with collectors. However, getting genuine notes at reasonable prices has always been a challenge. Tezbid.com has curated a collection of British Indian banknotes in various denominations – one rupee, two rupees, five rupees and ten rupees – across multiple varieties. This includes banknotes signed by past Reserve Bank of India governors CD Deshmukh, JW Kelly and JB Taylor, from the 1930s and 1940s. The high grade notes have all been certified as genuine by reputed grading agencies PMG and PMCS.
There are several states in the world that are not recognized by the United Nations, or by most of the other UN member states. Modern day examples include Republic of Abkhazia (breakaway part of Georgia) and Transnistria (breakaway part of Moldova). Historical examples include Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe), Biafra (part of Nigeria) and Srpska (part of Bosnia). These regions had all the characteristics of a country – a defined territory, a permanent population and a government – however, they could not gain recognition in the international system. Money issued by these governments is relatively uncommon, and these notes are popular with collectors. The Unrecognized States collection provides a single spot where a collector can pick these rarities at a low price.
These new collections have been curated in response to feedback from our collector community. We hope that collectors will have as much fun adding these banknotes to their collections, as we had in compiling them!
About Tezbid: tezbid.com is one of India’s leading numismatic e-stores, providing antique coins and banknotes, along with related information and tips, to collectors since 2019. It has been founded by a team of IIT and IIM alumnus, who are passionate about numismatics and want to make this hobby mainstream. As a profitable startup, Tezbid has relied on bootstrapping – own capital and retained profits for growth.