Front: Ceylon Armorial Ensign, within panel on left. Similer panel for water-mark on the
right. ශ්රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala,
at upper centre above
ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක් ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය
in three or four lines. The Value in Sinhala රුපියල් in one or two lines
at center. The Numeric date as Year-Month-Day without leading zero below. Facsimile
Sinhala signatures above මුදල් ඈමති, on
left and මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති below to right.
One Serial No at center for Re 1 and Rs 2 and twice on lower
left and upper right for rest. Value in English RUPEES
on left, at top or bottom and value in Thamil
ரூபாய்
on right always at bottom. All within a rectangular decorated border
with Numeric Value in upper two corners and both, right or none of
lower corners.
Back: Rectangular decorated border with Numeric Value in upper
two corners and both, right or none of lower corners. Centered in
border ශ්රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala,
at upper centre above on top or bottom, in Sinhala Text.
Value in Sinhala
රුපියල් at Upper, lower, or right. Within border,
Top or Bottom, value in English RUPEES
on left, and value in Thamil
ரூபாய்
on right.
Ceylon Pictorial on right or centered on micro under-print pattern
with colored shading.
At bottom centered just below horizontal decorate in small script
BRADBURY WILKINSON & CO LD NEW MALDEN. SURREY, ENGLAND.
Watermark: Lion standing on hind legs facing left with
bent whip in right paw, Lion Lighter with outline including whip darker than paper.
The Pictorials in back are the same as the notes issued between 1952-1954 for Queen Elizabeth II.
Format of Date was also changed from Day Month Year used since early 19th century Ceylon notes, to Sinhala and more Scientific numeric format YYYY-MM-DD but with no leading zeros.
Although the general layout of all the notes are similer, the shape and location of each of the elements are slightly different for each of the denominations.
Denomination | Re 1 | Rs 2 | Rs 5 | Rs 10 | Rs 50 | Rs 100 |
Portrait Panel | Oval | Squarish | Scallop | Scallop | Squarish | Oval |
Legality lines | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Sin. Value lines | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Front Lower Numbers | None | None | Both | Both | Right | Both |
Back Lower Numbers | Right | Right | Both | Both | None | Both |
Back Sin. CBC Center | Top | Top | Top arc | Bottom | Top | Top |
Front English Left | Bottom | Bottom | Upper | Upper | Upper | Bottom |
Front Thamil Right | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom |
Back Sinhala Center | Upper | Bottom | Right | Right | Bottom | Bottom |
Back English Left | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom | Top | lower | Upper |
Back Thamil | BotCen | UppRig | BotRig | TopRig | UppRig | UppRig |
Back Pictorial | Right | Right | Center | Center | Right | Right |
Minister of Finance | Governor Central Bank of Ceylon | ||||
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Among the six denominations, each issued on 1 to 5 dates, there are 2 different signature pairs. There are 8 dates, six (1956-58) with first and two (1959) with second. There were single Finance Ministers and two Governors of Central Bank within 2.2 years Both signature pairs and Six of the dates are represented above.
The Uncirculated Re 1; Rs 2 and red Rs 5 are from a small collection of notes preserved by my Grand-Father Mudliyar P. D. Ratnatunga (1881-1977) which motivated my interest in Ceylon Currency Notes.
The notes were scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi.