Two banknotes from the 1800s fetched a combined £36,000 when they were sold by a Wokingham auction house recently.
The banknotes, ten rupee notes issued by the Bank of Bombay, were dated 1856 and 1857, with the winning bidder coming from India.
Pascal McNamara of Wokingham Auctions told Wokingham Today that the notes, which were far from mint condition, were offered for sale by a Reading household alongside a suite of Indian silver that had been presented to Willian Howard Hussey Esq, the deputy auditor and accountant of The Great Indian Peninsula Railway on his retirement in 1925.
The silver tea set and tray had a scroll with a silk parchment commemorating the event, and even had a surviving group photo marking the event.
That lot sold for £1,755.
Pascal said: “Both prices were undoubtedly boosted by the interesting provenance that is so often lacking when items end up at auction.
“These stories are so often lost in the mists of time.
“It’s not unusual to see similar silver at auctions, but in this case it was the photo that helped to tie everything together.
“No doubt the deputy auditor and accountant himself would approve of the return on his investments.”
Wokingham Auctions holds weekly valuation sessions in Wokingham, Bagshot, Henley and Hartley Wintney.
