British Ceylon - Colombo
Rix Dollars - 1809

Rix Dollar Currency Notes with engraving of Britannia by Gale & Butler Engravers London, issued by Government Treasury in Colombo issued in 1809. These notes were issued from 1809 to 181?. Regulation 3 of 1820, required the value of the note to be added by means of a "dry stamp". By Regulation 8 of 1823 the notes of the value of RD 50 and 100 with a date prior to 1823 May 5 were withdrawn owing to a theft at the Colombo Kachcheri. By Regulation ? of 1830 the notes of the value of RD 2 and RD 5 were demonetized as from 1830 September 1.

Denomination : 5 RD
English : Five Rix Dollar
Sinhala : පතාග පහයි
Thamil : அஞகி இறையால
Size : 170 x 101 mm
Date : 1st January 1809
Status : Signed
Owen B203; KM-lk# Unlisted
Denomination : 100 RD
English : One Hundred Rix Dollar
Sinhala : පතාග සියයයි
Thamil : நூறு இறையால
Size : 181 x 110 mm
Date : 1st January 1809
Status : Signed
Owen B204; KM-lk# Unlisted

Front : Upper-left: Britannia with Laural wreath seated facing right, Shield with Union jack on side, Trident tilted back in right hand, Olive Branch in left hand, all within wreath with flowers. Below in small text in 2 lines Engraver Gale & Butler Engravers London.
To right No #### Colombo DD Month 18YY.
The Government of Ceylon promise to pay
to the Bearer on demand the Sum of {VALUE}
Rix Dollar(s) in Copper Money at the Exchange
of Forty Eight Stivers for One Rix Dollar on
presenting this at the General Treasury
RIX
DOLLAR(s)		 {VALUE}
COLOMBO {DD Month} 18{YY} No ####
Exd & Entd One hand-signed and one hand-stamped signature.
Hand-Stamped Value in Sinhala Text: Top left Horizontal  පතාග ...
and Thamil Text: Top right Horizontal ... இறையால
Back : Blank
WaterMark : Need to Find out
Printed : Gale & Butler Engravers London
Size : Estimated on the assumption that the size of Brittania logo is same as that measured on the 1820 2 Rix Dollar note from Colombo National Museum collection, which was scanned by me at 300 dpi.

Note that all of "dot"s above the Thamil characters are missing from the crudely handstamped old Text.

The Olive Branch stretched forward signifies Peace Friendship and Goodwill. The Trident represents British Naval Power inspired from Poseidon and Neptune, Greek and Roman deities of the sea. Note also the Sailing ship on horizon at right.

In 1809, One Hundred Rix Dollars in Copper Money as mentioned on currency note would have 1200 4-Stiver (1/12th Rix Dollar) coins and weighed 43.5 Kg.

Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Chapter XI British - Page 151-152

Provenance: 100 Rds - The Collection of World Banknotes formed by the Late Edward Barnby Note. The numeric serial Numbers of these Rix Dollar has been erased, and image cropped to a fixed size and photoshoped to make image anonymous. Images estimated at 150 dpi (5 RixD) and 194 dpi (100 RixD) are displayed at 50 dpi.

I thank Palinda De Silva for high resolution image that allowed identification of the Engraver Gale & Butler Engravers, 35, Crooked Street, London, confirmed with 1803 Kent's Directory put online by books.google.