1981 - 1985 : Sri Lanka
Historical and Archaeological
500 Rupee note
The Central Bank of Ceylon
(CBSL) issued on
1982 February 9th, for circulation, a 500 Rupee Currency Note in a
series of Notes that started in 1981 on theme
Historical and Archaeology of Sri Lanka
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Click on image to see Note Security under Ultra-Violet illumination
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| Predominant Color |
:Front - Brown with Pink, Blue, Yellow and Orange in background
:Back - Brown with Green leaves background decorate.
| | Size | : 165 x 79 mm
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Front: Landscape
Within a decorative border and center, Numeric 500 at all four corners.
At upper center the value
රුපියල් පන්සියයයි in Sinhala,
ஐந்நூறு ரூபாய் in Thamil
and FIVE HUNDRED RUPEES in English,
at bottom center.
In Top center in Sinhala,
ශ්රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව,
இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English
in next two lines with decreasing font size.
Next in even smaller font thr Legality Legend in 3 lines
ශ්රී ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ
මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ශ්රී ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක්
ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය
Two Facsimile signatures above මුදල් ඈමති, and
next මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති.
Below Date 198Y-01-01
Horizontal Serial number on lower left of center and upper right.
At right is image of the Stone Sculpture of a Elephant at the entrance to the
Dalada Maligawa in Kandy.
Braille:Six small squares printed in relief incorporated vertically
on the right hand side border of the note.
Back: Portrait
Within a decorative border, Numeric 500 at top left and Bottom right.
ශ්රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව
in Sinhala,
இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil
and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English,
in 3 lines of decreasing font size, centered on top.
රුපියල් පන්සියයයි in Sinhala,
ஐந்நூறு ரூபாய் in Thamil
and FIVE HUNDRED RUPEES in English,
in 3 lines of decreasing font size justified on bottom.
At center is image of the ancient Abayagiri Stupa in Anuradhapura.
Foliage with red flowers on top and foliage with a bird
at the bottom
At bottom centered just below horizontal decorate in small script
BRADBURY WILKINSON.
Watermark: Hereldic Lion standing on hind legs facing left with bent
whip in right paw, Lion Lighter with outline including whip darker
than paper.
Security Thin polyester thread of 1 mm width embedded in note.
Micro-printing background pattern.
UV Printing: Front: Signature, Date and Serial Numbers, in Green.
Three outlines of large Flag Lion with Sword in raised right paw in yellow
three Upper left, upper middle and lower right.
Back: Highlight of Stupa, foliage at bottom and decorate around watermark panel in Greenish Yellow.
Latent image: Within the upper decorates in the motif at
front bottom center, the Numeric value 500 written with
horizontal lines on vertical line background, as seen on this
1200 dpi scan on right.
| Denom. | Date on
BankNote | Finance Minister | CBSL Governor | First Serial # | Mintage
in K
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| Rs.500 | 1981-01-01 | Ronnie de Mel | Warnasena Rasaputram | J/1 000001 | 5,000
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| Rs.500 | 1985-01-01 | Ronnie de Mel | Warnasena Rasaputram | J/6 000001 | 1,500
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| Rs.500 | 1985-01-01 | Ronnie de Mel | Warnasena Rasaputram | J/7 500001 | 1,500
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The note dated 1985-01-01 is scarce. It had 2 orders With only 1.5
Million notes issued in each. Each order has different format for
Serial Prefix as shown on in comparison on left. It changed from a
wide horizontal Dash used since 1977 to one that is just as wide as
the Number below. The Font size is also larger as illustrated.
Note that J/7 comes in both varieties.
Tuan Sallay does not mention the Second order in his book with orders
till 1986. According to Fred Medis Bradbury Wilkinson after it was
taken over by DeLaRue printed serial numbers on remaining stock of
1985 Rs500 notes for the new order and in the process changed the
Serial Prefix format as shown.
The Printers name BRADBURY WILKINSON does not appear on 1981
Currency notes as it does for notes issued from 1982 to 1990 in small
script on bottom centered just below horizontal decorate on back
| Minister of Finance |
Governor
Central Bank of Ceylon |
1981-01-01, 1985-01-01
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| Ronnie de Mel | Warnasena Rasaputram |
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Text edited from book Sri Lanka Currency of Recent Times 1938 - 1985
by Mr. T M U Sallay 1986 CBSL Colombo.
The note was scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi.