There are local legends on the pavements of Karachi’s Boulton Market: if you went looking for old Pakistani currency notes that have been preserved in mint condition, Shaamat Bhai is the man to go to.

“Stall opposite Shop Number 22; the man has a red beard and wears a topi. Ask anyone there,” were the instructions delivered by one dealer of old currency notes.

Opposite shop number 22 is a man with a red beard but without a topi.

“Shaamat Bhai?” I ask tentatively.

“That way, two stalls down…”

Tracing the history of Pakistan’s currency

A bespectacled man with a red beard looks up as others around him shout “Shaamat Bhai, you have a guest.” Under the colonnade of a row of trees, a two-feet wide stall has been set up on the pavement. There are three clients, all looking at colonial-era medallions.

“Only 300 rupees,” Shaamat tells one woman.

“Isn’t that too expensive?

“Not at all,” he says dismissively.

The woman is coughs up the cash for the medal she wants; Shaamat Bhai isn’t too keen on bargaining with clients.

“It is Sahamat actually, Sahamatullah,” he says to me as we take our seats under the cool colonnade. He reminds me that shaamat denotes ‘doom’ in Urdu but that there is nothing woeful about the trade of historical artefacts.

“People don’t appreciate history in Pakistan,” he tut-tuts. “Had it been anywhere else in the world, old currency would have been sold at very high rates.”

Sahamat Ullah started selling old currency and coins in 1998. That was the year that the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had officially declared the trade of old currency legal.

“It was after the nuclear detonations, after they had frozen foreign currency accounts,” he recalls. “Before that, much of the trade used to happen behind closed doors and you had to have various connections and references to be able to access those dealings.”

The first of Pakistan’s five regular series was in fact issued on October 1, 1948. This series began with three denominations: Rs5, Rs10 and Rs100. These notes were the only ones ever to have been signed by the incumbent minister of finance.

Sahamat, too, has spent years building up his collection. From one of the drawers of his stall, he retrieves an album. “This one is for old Pakistani notes,” he beams. There are other albums too but this one is his pride.

As he flips pages, I notice that some notes are similar in design but different in colour. “Because the State Bank governor had changed; look at the signatures, they are different and so the rates at which these notes are sold are also different,” he beams.

“Did you know that in 1947, after Pakistan was founded, the first currency in the new country was the old Indian one?” he says while retrieving a 100 rupee note from 1948. “What they’d do is to inscribe these notes with ‘Government of Pakistan’ and release them for common use.”

In size and dimensions, this 100 rupee note is as large as today’s 1,000-rupee note. But in quality and attention to design detail, it is far superior.

Indeed, currency notes used on this side of the border in 1947 were issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Since no central banking institution existed in either Pakistani wing, the RBI was to print notes meant for circulation in Pakistan; this agreement was to stand till September 30, 1948.

As detailed in Banknotes and Coins of Pakistan, 1947-2015, a catalogue written by Rafiq Kasbati and Yahya Qureshi with the approval of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the RBI started printing notes with ‘Government of Pakistan’ inscribed on them from April 1, 1948. This was to avoid further circulation of Indian currency in Pakistan.

But this arrangement came to an end on June 30. Two days later, on July 2, SBP held its first board meeting.

“Earlier currency did not have any date of issue, so you have to recognise the era of issuance through the signature of the finance secretary or SBP governor.”

“The inscribed notes were in the denominations of Re1, Rs2, Rs5, Rs10 and Rs100. When the SBP took over from the RBI, the total Pakistan inscribed notes which they had put into circulation up to June 30, 1948 amounted to Rs515.7 million. These inscribed notes were demonetised with effect from January 15, 1952,” write Kasbati and Qureshi in their catalogue.

The changing face of the rupee

The first of Pakistan’s five regular currency series was in fact issued on October 1, 1948. This series began with three denominations: Rs5, Rs10 and Rs100. These notes were the only ones ever to have been signed by the incumbent minister of finance, who was Ghulam Mohammad at the time. (The notes are currently signed by the head of SBP).

The first regular series found their design inspiration from the one-pound note that was in circulation in the United Kingdom at the time. They were designed and printed by a firm named De La Rue & Company, that later helped the Pakistani government in setting up and operating the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation.

The second regular series was issued on March 1, 1949, when Re1 and Rs2 notes were circulated in the market. The two-rupee note was in fact the first one to be issued by the SBP.

The third regular series arrived on December 24, 1957 with a brand new 100-rupee note introduced as legal tender. This was the first time Quaid-i-Azam appeared on currency notes, dressed in a suit and a Jinnah cap.

Before the fourth regular series could be issued, the country was ravaged by 1971 civil war. While currency marked with ‘Dacca’ (now Dakkah) as the place of issue was barred as legal tender on June 8, 1971, an emergency series was issued shortly after the creation of Bangladesh, which was subsequently followed by the removal of notes with Bangla inscriptions.

The fourth regular series finally made it to the market in July 1976, with new Rs5, Rs10 and Rs100 notes. In December 1977, a 50-rupee note was added to the series while a new one-rupee note was issued on March 24, 1981. This was followed by a new two-rupee note, placed in circulation on August 24, 1985. On April 1, 1986, a 500-rupee note was also introduced.

But perhaps the greatest surprise of the fourth regular series was a 1,000-rupee note, introduced on July 18, 1988. This was also the first time that fluorescent ink was used as a security feature on bank notes.

The need for a fifth regular series was felt after forged currency started making its way into the market in great numbers. On August 13, 2005, the fifth regular series was placed in circulation with a 20-rupee note introduced in the market. The SBP had laced these notes with added security features. New 10-rupee notes came on March 27, 2006, while two months later, on May 27, new 5,000-rupee notes were placed in circulation.

The fifth regular series got their 1,000-rupee notes on February 26, 2007. The 5-rupee and 50-rupee notes were added on July 8, 2008, although the 5-rupee notes were withdrawn on December 31, 2012 as the SBP released Rs5 coins instead.

The small world of numismatics

“This story is very long but if you want to understand more, why don’t you come to our meeting tomorrow? You’ll be able to meet Kasbati Sahib too” says Sahamat as more clients begin to line up in front of his stall.

The next day, we meet again as scheduled, in the conference room of a hotel where the local chapter of the numismatics society is convening for a meeting. In one corner of the conference room is a large rectangular table; most seated at the table are senior members of the society. All present are men; most of them are elderly traders.

As more men trickle in, the group soon turns into a huddle. An attendance register is circulated to ensure a log of who came is maintained. Some 30 men are in attendance, including the tardy arrivals. But as the proceedings carry forward, it becomes more obvious that this is less of a meeting and more of an auction.

Seated in the centre of the table are the auctioneer — a rotund, middle-aged man — and the bookkeeper — an elderly, moustached man. Most artefacts being auctioned are handed over in an envelope to the auctioneer; most packets are weighty because most things are sold in bulk. Were they to be sold per piece, the auction rates wouldn’t be financially viable.

Some men bring vintage coins and currency to sell; others produce old letters and envelopes. Then there are stamp papers with colonial-era as well as post-Partition inscriptions.

The first item for auction has already piqued Sahamat’s interest: a pre-Partition medal that was bequeathed by the nawab of Bahawalpur. The auction starts at Rs100 but Sahamat has a couple of competitors. Bidding rises by 25 rupees in the initial rounds before the rivals begin aggressively outbidding each other. The medal is finally sold at Rs1, 300 to a very determined Sahamat.

The next item up for auction is an envelope dated March 1933, which had been posted from Iran to Karachi. Although the envelope is auctioned off at Rs150, it is the stamps on the envelope that are of real value to the eventual buyer, a stamps collector.

Although Sahamat stays mum for the next few bids too, a bag of coins makes him jump off his seat. He hadn’t bid on the last bag either — auctioned at Rs1, 100 — because it mostly had foreign coins. But this bag is different because it has a coin that Sahamat has had his eye on for a long time.

“This one has the first coin produced by Pakistan, a one-paisa coin that has a hole in the middle,” he informs me. Bidding starts at Rs100 but Sahamat manages to bag the lot at Rs250.

The auction continues till Maghrib prayers when tea is also served. Private dealings between association members ensue as do various barter agreements.

“The basic principle of pricing is the same: the older the note, the higher the value. The lower the supply, the higher the demand and the price point. But the value of old currency also depends on various other factors,” says Kasbati, a tall, slender man with a long, flowing white beard.

“Uncirculated notes of course are priced very high, followed by what we call ‘very fine quality’ notes and ‘fine quality’ notes. The problem with old currency is that not only do they get worn out with time (if not preserved well), but many times, you’ll find paan stains or handwriting across them. That reduces their market value.”

Kasbati, co-author of Banknotes and Coins of Pakistan, 1947-2015, donated his collection of currency notes to the SBP. At the time, his collection was worth Rs300, 000 but its value has tripled ever since. Those notes are now part of the collection exhibited at the SBP Museum.

“If you look at the one-rupee series, you’ll find various little differences in different eras. The first ones had the crescent facing in different directions, therefore their rates are different. In later sets, you’ll notice that the prefix is in different styles,” explains Kasbati. “Earlier currency did not have any date of issue, so you have to recognise the era of issuance through the signature of the finance secretary or SBP governor.”

Apart from the various regular currency series, Pakistan also issued special Hajj currency. “These were to ensure that no new notes would enter the local market, otherwise it would lead to greater inflation in the country,” explains the elderly numismatist. “Pilgrims would land in Saudi Arabia and exchange these notes for Saudi Riyals. Then that currency was sent back from Saudi Arabia and destroyed here in Pakistan.”

Although the history and evolution of Pakistani currency notes reflects the highs and lows of the country, currency collection as a hobby hasn’t gained much traction. Both Sahamat and Kasbati point to the absence of literature on the issue.

According to Kasbati, the first edition of his catalogue was not as well received since it was not written in the language of a layperson — an error that has been rectified in later editions.

With such low numbers in attendance — only three members out of 30 in the meeting are from a younger age group — and with women conspicuously absent, is it also that interest in collecting currency and coins is a dying passion?

“It is a matter of creating a culture where children and young adults can learn about history and tradition,” says Sahamat. “Teach the history of Pakistani currency and coins in schools and colleges; create libraries in universities, like the one that the State Bank has. Only then can we have a new generation taking pride in our heritage.”

The writer is a member of staff.

He tweets @ASYusuf

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 25th, 2016