WaterMarks on Lankan Currency

The Watermarks on Lankan Banknotes are not easy to illustrate except between 1941 and 2006 when the watermark was limited to a region in Banknote with at most light printing which allowed the watermark to be clearly visible when the Banknote was illuminated from behind. The only exception is the cornerstone added in 2005 to denominations Rs500 and higher.
For all other notes there is significant printing on the Banknote to obscure part of the Watermark. In these case watermark text or diagram needs to be interpolated or extrapolated from the watermark region visible.
For Banknotes from 1885 to 1939 they used few components which were integrated to layout the full watermark. These components are more clearly visible on some banknotes than others, and separate line drawing of these components can be scaled to make-up the watermark of banknotes where they are only partly visible. The Darker than background Fonts had a lighter than background shadow which can be easily reproduced within the PhotoShop make-up.

The adopted methodology should be to start with carefully tracing the outline of an enlarged print-out the watermark image on A4 paper. Both the exact dimensions, orientation and thickness of the lines need to be traced so that the drawing can be super-imposed on the watermark image after appropriate scaling. When line drawing the Text, the draftsmen needs to develop a constant font, ignoring slight deviations which is probably noise in the watermark image realised on banknote.

In 2022 summer, a few Watermark paper 1885-1925 were sold on Auction on eBay as well as Spink which permited those to be illustrated properly and are included below.

The attempt is not the traditional line drawing of watermark, but an attempt to visualize it with a consistent Text font line drawings for each series. See a preliminary attempt to display the text on watermarks on Banknotes using standard fonts available freely online.

In Reverse Chronological Order

These are example where I have the paper without printing to show what the line drawing of the watermarks would look like in these case
2010 Rs 5000 Bulbul Image of WM Paper - No need to draw

2010 Rs 1000 Parrot Have WM Paper - No need to draw

Watermark Images that need to be drawn

2010-2022 Birds



1994-2009 Standing Lion with Bright Sword

1987-1994 Standing Lion with Sword

1941-1985 Lion on hind legs with Whip

1942 CEYLON GOVERNMENT RESTRICTION

E&D - On Rs 2 Elephant and Dagaba with Parasol and lightning conductor is Bell shaped on left and Bubble Shaped on right

1925-1939 Rs 2 TWO RUPEES GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON 2E&D

E&D - On Rs 5 and Rs 10 Elephant and Dagaba with Pinnacle is Bell shaped on upper left and Bubble Shaped on upper right

1929-1939 Rs 5 Large 5 CEYLON 2E&D

1929-1939 Rs 10 Large 10 CEYLON 2E&D

1925-1928 Rs 5 Large 5 CEYLON 2E&D

1925-1928 Rs 10 Large 10 CEYLON 2E&D

E&D - Elephant and Dagaba Bubble shaped with Pinnacle and lightning conductor on upper left.

Leaf - A leafy liyavala design on lower left seen clearly on 1926 Rs 100 note.

ZZZ - Dark ZigZag lines lighter between them. 3 plus in Rs 50 and higher denomination part of a 4th on right.

GoC - Panel with GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON on bottom center seen clearly on 1939 Rs 50 note.

Government of Ceylon Smaller Size Biface Notes
1929-1939 Rs 50 FIFTY RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

1929-1934 Rs1000 ONE THOUSAND RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

Government of Ceylon Uniface Notes
All But the Rs500 now have images of Watermark paper without printing 1917-1922 Rs 2 TWO RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

1885-1925 Rs 5 FIVE RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

1885-1925 Rs 10 TEN RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

1885-1925 Rs 50 FIFTY RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

1885-1925 Rs 100 ONE HUNDRED RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

1926 Rs 500 FIVE HUNDRED RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

1885-1925 Rs1000 ONE THOUSAND RUPEES Leaf ZZZ E&D GoC

1862-1884 ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION



1864-1865 ASIATIC BANKING CORPORATION


1857-1880 Mercantile Bank of India London & China

1850-1857 CEYLON CURRENCY ONE POUND

1850-1857 CEYLON CURRENCY TWO POUNDS

1850-1857 CEYLON CURRENCY FIVE POUNDS

1844 BoC CEYLON CURRENCY TWO POUNDS

Investigated the way note is photographed effects appearance of the watermark.
0) Note is best photographed on light Table with a bright background and Transformed Digitally to get watermark image.
If the Note had been photographed with a
1) black background and digital contrast enhanced, it effectively
inverts Dark to light and needs to be inverted to illustrate the watermark.
2) White background, it is difficult to highlight watermark with digital contrast enhancement.