Central Bank of Ceylon
S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike - 1970

The SLFP led by Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike was returned to power at Election held on 1970 May 29th. The Prevention of the Avoidance of Income Tax Act was passed and in terms of this Act the Government on 1970 October 26th, demonetized all currency notes of the denominations of Rupees 50 and 100 bearing a date prior to that of the demonetization. Unlike in the earlier demonetization exercises the notes so demonetized not only ceased to be legal tender a week later after November 3rd, but also ceased to be a liability of the Central Bank.

The new Printer Thomas De La Rue introduced the First Replacement *-Notes to Ceylon Currency.

The "Hand" being the Political Symbol of the SLFP, this design was considered an election violation and was not used after 1970.

Denomination : 50 Rupees Base Color : Blue Under-print : Purple and multicolor English : Fifty Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් පනහයි Thamil : ஐம்பது ரூபாய் Size : 151 x 79 mm Replacement Prefix : W/1 SCWPM-lk :  77 Back Pictorial :  Centered Vihara Maha Devi Statue on pedestal in park in her name in front of Town Hall of Colombo Municipal Council. Tree in background. Three Cattleya Orchid flowers in bloom with leaves in lower right, as in front lower left.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial # 000 Pcs Replac. Prefix Rs.50 1970-10-26 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon D/1   00001 6,000 W/1 Rs.50 1970-12-9 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon D/61 00001 3,000  ----
Denomination : 100 Rupees Base Color : Brown Under-print : Purple, Green & Orange English : One Hundred Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් සියයයි Thamil : நூறு ரூபாய் Size : 162 x 86 mm Replacement Prefix : V/1 SCWPM-lk :  78 Back Pictorial :  Three Kandyan Dancers in similer posture at center with larger Drummer facing right at lower left. Four Lotus flowers in bloom with leaves in lower right as in front lower left.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial # 000 Pcs Replac. Prefix Rs.100 1970-10-26 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon E/1   00001 5,000 V/1 Rs.100 1970-12-9 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon E/51 00001 1,000  ----

Front: Portrait of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike facing left with right hand raised, smiling with teeth showing on right. Blank region for water-mark on the left. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala,
at upper centre above with இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English below to left.
Below legality in Sinhala ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක් ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය in five lines. The Numeric date as Year-Month-Day without leading zero below. Facsimile Sinhala signatures above මුදල් ඈමති, on left and මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති below centered. The Value in Sinhala රුපියල් in two lines at bottom center in decorative panel, value in Thamil ரூபாய் on left and Value in English RUPEES right. Serial No twice on lower left and upper right. All within a rectangular decorated border with Numeric Value in all four corners. Numeric on upper left is below a lion facing left with sword in right paw.
Flowers in bloom, Orchids (Rs50) or Lotus (Rs100) in lower left in background. Back: Numeric Value in upper two corners and both (Rs50), or right(Rs100) lower corners. Centered in upper border ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala Text, below which இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil on right and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English to left.
Value in Sinhala රුපියල් at Upper left(Rs50), or bottom center(Rs100) within border. Value in Thamil ரூபாய் and value in English RUPEES below.
Ceylon Pictorial centered on micro under-print grid pattern with colored shading.
At bottom centered just below horizontal decorate in small script
THOMAS DE LA RUE & COMPANY LIMITED.
Watermark: Lion standing on hind legs facing left with bent whip in right paw, Lion Lighter with outline including whip darker than paper.
Security: Metal strip same width of 1 mm for all denominations.
Engraver: Stanley Doubtfire (1921-)
Stan Doubtfire Joined De La Rue in 1936, retired 1986, but retained as a teacher until 1996. In respose to an observation of the quality of eyes in a portrait Mr Doubtfire replied "I always felt that in drawing, painting or engraving, the eyes were the most inportant feature where the 'person' is really, and consequently I spent a lot of time and effort trying to perfect my technique in that area" Doubtfire is considerd one of the best modern engravers in Europe. (Ref: Gene Hessler's The International Engraver's line p:77-79)

Minister of Finance	Governor Central Bank of Ceylon
1970-10-26 1970-12-9 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon

Two denominations, issued with same signature pair on same 2 dates, both of which are represented above.

I was unable to find online, a photograph with raised hand a drawing of which was also used on a Sri Lanka stamp. The hand is probabaly an addition to the porteait used later in note by the Artist who also needs to be identified. If known please inform me.

See Table on right from 1971 Annual Report of Central Bank of Ceylon. to see that there is not much difference in currency note circulation before and after the Demonetization.

Edmund Eramudugolla, Ex Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank in his autobiography, Reminiscences of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, said It was an act of duplicity unworthy of a Minister of Finance whose relations with the Governor of the Central Bank of the country should have been open and healthy, and where statutorily where they are both responsible for the issue of the country's currency. With the Governor's signature transcribed in the new notes without his authority and in total ignorance of the issue of the notes, it was an illegal operation and could have been questioned in a Court of Law, but then, where would have this led to? The Minister was able to get the PM on his side by designing the portrait of her late husband with his hand upraised, a symbol of his party, on these notes. The notes were printed not by the Bank's regular printers, but by Thomas Delarue whom the Minister engaged. The Governor was ignorant of this whole exercise until the notes were brought into the currency division under security and issued to the public who wanted to exchange the demonetised old notes for the new (pp 57-8).

The disappointed Governor Tennekoon made no protest but chose to leave the Central Bank without seeking re-appointment. In hindsight, we could now say that the demonetisation exercise was a failure from the point of getting the hoarded money into open and boost the government coffers by way of increased tax revenues. The Central Bank had to write off the enormous cost of the operation over several years.

The notes were scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi.
I thank Cedrian Lopez-Bosch (11817-R) for the engraver information from Gene Hessler's book.