Government of Ceylon : 1941 - 1947
George VI Pictorial - Rs 100

King George VI Pictorial One Hundred Rupees BankNote issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency during WWII. Type has 5 dates with 3 Signature pairs between 1941 and 1947.
images/1941_kgvi_100r_f.jpg images/1941_kgvi_100r_b.jpg
Click on image to see issued noteLK:SCWPM #038
The Notes are 178 by 127 mm i.e. 7 by 5 inches.
Printed by lithography process in India Government Security Press.
Water-mark: Ratnapura Raised Lion with whip on paper manufactured by Messrs Portals Ltd.

Front : Purple on blue, Green and brown underprint. Portrait of King George VI on the left, a water-mark panel on the right, and the value in words ONE HUNDRED RUPEES in 3 lines in center and in figures 100 on the top two sides. GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON in an arc above THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR PAYMENT OF ANY AMOUNT in five lines. The date appears above the facsimile signatures of two COMMISSIONERS OF CURRENCY. The value රුපියල් සියයයි in Sinhala on upper left, and நூறு ரூபாய் in Thamil on lower right. The Serial number on the lower left hand side and upper right hand side.
Back : Green on a Red and Brown tint underprint with Micro printing text THE GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON. Pictorial at center with caption LAXAPANA WATERFALL with a large rock and steam in foreground and foliage in background. The value in figures 100 slanted on upper two corners on either side of GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON in an arc. Lower the value රුපියල් සියයයි in Sinhala on left, and நூறு ரூபாய் in Thamil on right.

Signatures of Commissioners of CurrencyDate on BankNoteFirst Serial #Mintage
in K

H.J. Huxham

C.H. Collins
1ST SEPTMBER 1941 L/l 00001 50
4TH AUGUST 1943 L/1 50001 110
12TH JULY 1944 L/2 60001 124

O.E. Goonetilleke

C.H. Collins
24TH JUNE 1945 L/3 84001 1530

O.E. Goonetilleke

C.E. Jones
1ST MARCH 1947 L/19 14001 256

The notes were demonetized with all Rs 50 and Rs 100 notes dated before 1970 October 26th and ceased to be legal tender with effect 1970 November 3rd.

The details of this issue are from Sri Lanka Currency of Recent Times 1938-1985 T. M. U. Sallay, 1986 Colombo:Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

On right is a scan of photograph of Lakapana Falls used by Artist for the line drawing used on the Rs 100 KGVI pictorial note. Note that the foreground rock has been reduced in size to show more of falls.

The King GVI Rs100 is a rare Banknote to find in any condition.
An Unc note dated 24th June 1945 with Serial Number L/15 76367 sold on Heritage Auction Lot 28657 for US$5520 in 2019 April.
An Unc note dated 24th June 1945 with Serial Number L/15 76370 sold on Heritage Auction Lot 26148 for US$4112 in 2016 January.
Replica without watermark with Serial Number L/15 76396 have been sold fradulently on eBay claiming to be a Genuine Unc note. The copy I got in 2014 with this serial number is about 9% smaller than original

The Unc Specimen note waa scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi. I thank Mr Tuan Sallay for it.

I thank Dinesh Wijeratne for the image of circulated 1941 September Rs100 note displayed by clicking on above images, which has a serial number L/1 50541 which is slightly larger than the 50,000 for this issue. Tuan's data are for orders, and this maybe reflect a difference between date on note and orders. More than 50,000 may have been printed to ensure 50,000 good notes. The remainder sent with next order.