Description and research notes
Unsigned photographic proof of a 100 Rupees Travellers Cheque by Thomas Cook & Son, produced circa 1923 for issue in British India and adjoining territories.
These rupee-denominated cheques were part of Cook’s regional adaptation strategy, allowing British and colonial travelers to draw funds in local currency without transporting specie. Each carried detailed bilingual text, ornate guilloche borders, and a space for dual signatures—of the purchaser and the company cashier—mirroring the format later used by standardized travellers cheques.
This proof, graded PCGS 55 About New, is mounted on card and displays excellent photographic contrast. It documents the firm’s reach into the Indian subcontinent and its contribution to the evolution of global financial mobility during the inter-war years.