Lankawei Pradana Bankuwa
The Essay of April 1956

This is a draft sketch on the 1954 note, to design a note without QEII and English replaced with Sinhala, but with a fair use of Tamil on the Back. This Tamil was not adopt for issue dated 1956-7-30 after Sinhala only Act.

Interesting to find out that soon after the election, and months before the Sinhala Only Act was certified, currency printers were asked to prepare essays for a new issue of Banknotes in Sinhala and a possible replacement of the Queen's portrait. The legality statement and even the name in Sinhala of the Central Bank of Ceylon had not yet been finalized.

This essay has English and Sinhala text switched on the front and English and Tamil text switched on the Back, for a fair use of Tamil as had been advocated. For Political Reasons, this too had been changed to Sinhala in the adopted issue of the notes. The Thamil was not included with English even in smaller text till 1969-5-10 notes.

Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike won the election using a mandate to enact the Sinhala Only Policy had disastrous consequences in the future for Lanka, including a 26 year Civil war with the LTTE from 1983 to 2009.

Denomination : 2 Rupees English : Two Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් දෙකයි Thamil : இரண்டு ரூபாய் Size : 127 x 76 mm @60% Spink Auction 16011 lot 812 Back Pictorial :  On left ornate stone Circular Buddhist shrine, Medirigiriya Vatadage in medieval City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
Denomination : 50 Rupees English : Fifty Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් පතහයි Thamil : ஐம்பது ரூபாய் Size : 159 x 89 mm@60% Spink Auction 16011 lot 812 Back Pictorial :  Moonstone at base of stone stairway to Queens Pavilion in Ancient City of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Moonstone has 3¼ repeated sequence of Elephant, Horse, Lion and Bull in annulus, and equal total of 13 swans in inner annulus, along with various other annulus with floral designs.

Front: Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on left and space for watermark on right side. Name of Central Bank of Ceylon ලඬ‍කාවේ ප්‍රධාන බැංකුව in Sinhala,
at upper centre above
ලංකා ආණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන්
තිකුත් කරන ලද මේ මුදල් පත
කිතමි ගණනක් වුවද ගෙවිම
සඳහා ලංකාව ඇතුළත
නිත්‍යතුකුලව හාවිත වේ
in four or five lines.
Two alternative Symbols, the Flag Lion, and the adopted Armorial Ensign of Ceylon to replace the Queen's portrait were also drawn for each essay to scale. The Value in Sinhala රුපියල් in two lines at center. The Numeric 1954 date of previous issue of this denomination being modified as Day Month Year below. Facsimile Signatures in those above මුදල් ඇමති තැන, on left and මහා පාලක තැන / ලඬ‍කාවේ ප්‍රධාන බැංකුව in two lines below to right. Serial No is not shown. 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 right or none of lower corners. Centered in border Name of Central Bank இலங்கைப் பிரதான வங்கி(Ilankaip Main Bank) in Thamil Text, at upper centre above on top. Value in Sinhala රුපියල් at lower . Within border, Top or Bottom, value in English RUPEES on left, and value in Thamil ரூபாய் on center.
Ceylon Pictorial on right on micro under-print pattern with colored shading.
At bottom centered just below horizontal decorate in small script
BRADBURY WILKINSON & C^O L^D NEW MALDEN. SURREY, ENGLAND.

Note the missing ශ්‍රී and the spelling of Lanka used in that era as the Sinhala name ලඬ‍කා බැංකුව used for the Bank of Ceylon as seen on right from a old check leaf. For English word Central the proposed Sinhala word ප්‍රධාන translates to Principle, while adopted මහ translates to Main.

The Newspaper Clipping from Lankadeepa of 1950 August 26th indicates that the Central Bank of Ceylon was in fact called Lanka Pradana Bankuwa in Sinhala before 1956 from the time it opened on 1950 August 28th Monday. None of the recent Sinhala Numismatic Publications of even the CBSL remembered what the CBSL was called in Sinhala from 1950 to 1956 till the name on this essay was researched
I thank Dhanesh Wisumperuma for pointing this out and Ms H. M. Deepanee of the National Archives for finding this reference. I understand from Dhanesh Wisumperuma that many Institutions changed their Sinhala names after the Sinhala-only Act and needs to be further investigated in for example Sinhala Newspapers of 1956.

Printers Bradbury Wilkinson appear to be new to printing Sinhala Text. The new Sinhala Text in the front has been crudely hand-drawn on essay. The value පනහයි has been drawn wrongly as පතහයිwriting න as ත. Making the same error the words නිකුත් as තිකුත්; කිනමි as කිතමි; නිත්‍යනුකුලව as නිත්‍යතුකුලව.

Similar Sinhala mistake, but more crudely was made on The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London & China - Ceylon Branch - 1864-1869 - Colombo notes an hundred years previously.

In contrast the new Tamil text on the back appears to have been neatly printed on essay. The name in Tamil for the Central Bank of Ceylon in Tamil prominently on top of the Back had also not yet been finalized. The Thamil in the name changed Piratana(Main) on this essay to current Mattiya(Central). There is also an extra ப் at the end of the Country name.

The Photographic essays from 25 lots from the 2016 auction were downloaded by me 2019, but had not been looked at carefully' I had assumed this was just an Essay for the QEII note. On 2021 October 16th I noticed the different name in Sinhala and understood the significance of this unique essay. This essay gives a lot of previously undocumented insight to this transition from English to Sinhala in 1956. One needs to get documents like this into the archival record of the country.

A media report over nine years ago in 2012 September said that CBSL has given a written undertaking to include the words "this currency note issued on behalf the Government of Sri Lanka is valid for any financial transaction within Sri Lanka" in the Tamil and English language and provide equal prominence to all three languages when issuing currency notes in future. This has not yet been implemented, was expected with a new series in 2021 which was announced in 2019 Roadmap but cancelled in 2020. See also Equality of Languages to be Enforced on Currency Notes.

The above Essay may give some direction to those that design the proposed a multilanguage note series to be issued whenever in the future.

Mouseover image to expand to fit screen. The Archival photographs of original was scanned by me at 600 dpi are displayed at about 83 dpi. Photographic Archive prints on card are 60% of the original size of 1954 notes of these denominations.

In 2016 January 16th Spink Hong Kong Auction 16011 lot 812, this Archival Photographs on card sold for HK$1600+20%BP(US$250).

In 2021 when I identified the importance of this unique essay in a 2016 Spink Hong Kong Auction archive, I wished it was with us.
Luckily most items are purchased by investors and the item goes back on Auction. 6 years later in a special QEII Heritage Auction held in Hong Kong after her passing. I won it on 2023-12-09 to bring it back to Lakdiva. I was only interested in this item, and I am glad no one else fully understood its importance.

I had never owned or even seen an archival photographic proof till I got this to hand on 2024 February 5th. I found the images in miniature are 60% in size of the original. I assume the line drawing would have been done on a larger scale and then photographed and printed at this reduced 60% scale. The prints, then cut up and pasted on the Board. The Board with the pasted photograph is the archival Proof. The prints were of high resolution and I could get a good grain-free image by scanning at 600 dpi

In the reply to a CBSL RTI 0258/2023, I was informed that CBSL does not maintain an archive on essay on Banknotes. My questions on what happened to them was rejected in terms of section 3(1) of the RTI Act no 12 of 2016 which says every citizen shall have a right of access to information which is in the possession, custody or control of a public authority. . i.e. As CBSL does not have possession the essays they claim they don't need to say what happened to them. I have appealed on the basis they did have custody or control at one time.

Above images at 185 dpi from this Auction Listing.

In a 2015 October IBNS Forum discussion, Jaime Sanz (LM-155) wrote:
A "photographic essay" is literally a photo of a essay or design that was produced by one of the traditional banknote printing houses.
Recently a number of these have surfaced from the archives of mainly Bradbury Wilkinson and Thomas De La Rue, and their collector interest resides primarily in the fact that the essays, models, designs or drawings they depict no longer exist in the vast majority of cases.
So the photos which have found their way into auctions and collectors hands, and which go back as far as 1900 for some countries are in most cases the only evidence that remains of those original essays.

Laurence Pope (7037-R) wrote:
These fascinating photographic essays have suddenly become available and the story is that the books in which they were mounted were actually retrieved from a dustbin! ... As I compare them either with specimens, issued notes or printer's essays, I never cease to be amazed at the differences, since very few are exactly the same. I believe they should remain attached to the stiff cards they are mounted on, because these frequently have dates and even the colours of the notes they relate to.
... They are appearing in Spink auctions and quite a few are amazingly unsold. My advice is buy as quickly as possible, because these are gold dust, many are unique and will, I believe, become important research items, enhancing any collection. It is not every day you can pick up excessively rare or unique items.

In response to post on my win IBNS WhatsApp Group Jonathan Callaway (3575-R) wrote:
Well done! I really rate these photo essays, literally the only record in most cases of adopted designs, the early stages in the design of new notes etc.

See more Ceylon Essays from 1928 to 1978 which is Part of notes.lakdiva.org.lk a website for Banknotes of Ceylon and Sri Lanka since 1785.