Watch List notes:

Large lot of 6 uncut sheets of India 10 rupees bank note paper. Each sheet about 25" x 28" The SS Breda was a Dutch merchant vessel that was attacked by German Luftwaffe bombers on Dec. 23, 1940 off Oban, Scotland, while waiting to join a convoy bound for Bombay, India. Among her cargo of cement, tobacco and cigarettes, biplanes, trucks, and trade goods, the ship also carried crates of watermarked sheets of paper for Indian 10 and 5 rupees notes. After the attack, the damaged vessel was beached off Ardmucknish Bay, and although some salvage work began, a storm on Dec. 24th quickly ended that and moved the ship into deeper water where it sank. Around the early 1990s, the crates of bank note paper, now falling apart, were found and salvaged by recreational divers. Each sheet in this lot bears 40 notes and has some edge damage, light staining, and minor foxing from immersion in the water over several decades. The watermark on each note is of the crowned bust of King George facing right and the text TEN RUPEES / RESERVE BANK / OF / INDIA / TEN RUPEES. From: SS Breda, sunk in 1940 off Scotland
($300-450)