Front: Young portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth facing
right, within panel on left. Similer panel for water-mark on the
right. CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON at upper centre above
This note is issued on behalf of the Government of Ceylon and is
legal tender in Ceylon for the payment of any amount in three
or four lines. The Value RUPEES in two or three lines in
English at center. The date as Day Month Year below. Facsimile
English signatures above MINISTER OF FINANCE on
left and GOVERNOR CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON on
right. One Serial No at center for Re 1 and Rs 2 and twice on lower
left and upper right for rest. Value in Sinhala
රුපියල්
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 both, right or none of lower corners. Centered in
border CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON on top or bottom. In English
Text, Value RUPEES at Upper, lower, or right. Within border,
Top or Bottom, value in Sinhala
රුපියල්
on left, and value in Thamil
ரூபாய்
on right.
Ceylon Pictorial on right or centered on micro under-print pattern
with colored shading.
At bottom centered just below horizontal decorate in small script
BRADBURY WILKINSON & CO LD NEW MALDEN. SURREY, ENGLAND.
Watermark: Lion standing on hind legs facing left with
bent whip in right paw, Lion Lighter with outline including whip darker than paper.
Engraver Nigel Alan Dow (1929- ) Dow became Chief engraver at Bradbury Wilkinson in the 1960s has engraved more portraits of Queen Elizabeth II than any other security engraver: ten different portraits for the Bank of England and Commonwealth governments. Nevertheless Mr Dow has been quoted as saying "I've never really engraved a satisfactory portrait of the Queen. I think everyone has their own ideas a to how she looks - and that includes the photographer" (Hutchings 83). Legendary British engraver Alan Dow retired in 1997 after 52 years of cutting images in steel. (Ref: Gene Hessler's The international engraver's line p:81-83)
Although the general layout of all the notes are similer, the shape and location of each of the elements are slightly different for each of the denominations.
Denomination | Re 1 | Rs 2 | Rs 5 | Rs 10 | Rs 50 | Rs 100 |
Portrait Panel | Oval | Squarish | Scallop | Scallop | Squarish | Oval |
Legality lines | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Eng. Value lines | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Front Lower Numbers | None | None | Both | Both | Right | Both |
Back Lower Numbers | Right | Right | Both | Both | None | Both |
Back Eng. CBC Center | Top | Top | Top arc | Bottom | Top | Top |
Front Sinhala Left | Bottom | Bottom | Upper | Upper | Upper | Bottom |
Front Thamil Right | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom |
Back English Center | Upper | Bottom | Right | Right | Bottom | Bottom |
Back Sinhala Left | Bottom | Bottom | Bottom | Top | Lower | Upper |
Back Thamil | BotCen | UppRig | BotRig | TopRig | UppRig | UppRig |
Back Pictorial | Right | Right | Center | Center | Right | Right |
Minister of Finance | Governor Central Bank of Ceylon | ||||
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Among the six denominations, each issued on 2 dates, there are 4 different dates and signature pairs, all of which are represented above. There were three Finance Ministers and three Governors of Central Bank within 2.4 years
In classic Dorothy Wilding photograph of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, she is wearing her grandmother's 'Girls of Great Britain and Ireland' Tiara. The Tiara from the London jeweller Garrard was given to George V's wife Queen Mary as a wedding gift in 1893. Funds for the purchase was raised by a committee formed by Lady Eve Greville.
The format and Pictorials are the same as the notes issued in 1951 for King George VI.
There were two colors for the Rs 5 note. According to T. M. U. Sallay this change happened because when the CBC Governor sent a Purple Rs 5 with servant to shop, it was mistaken at dusk, for a brown Rs 2, for which change was returned. A similar mistake still happens with 2010 Series with the Purple Rs500/- being mistaken for Maroon Rs20/-.
The Central Bank of Ceylon Annual Report for 1952 says I quote 98. During 1952 the Central Bank issued for the first time currency notes designed and printed under its authority. The new notes were in denominations of Rs. 10, Rs. 2, and Re. 1. The Rs 10 and Re 1 notes would have been those of King George VI. The currency in circulation for 1952 shows no increase in Circulation of the Rs 2 after June. , b and Re 1. notes in 1952 April and may have been the month of issue. (Need to check Newspapers). New Notes are issued tradinionally for Sinhala & Tamil New Year.
The Uncirculated Re 1; Rs 2 and red Rs 5 are from a small collection of notes preserved by my Grand-Father Mudliyar P. D. Ratnatunga (1881-1977) which motivated my interest in Ceylon Currency Notes. The Uncirculated purple Rs 5 from the collection of Mr Leonard Konstz, given to his daughter Lidwina, my wife. It appeared in Local Media in the SundayTimes BusinessTimes section on 2022 September 11th after the passing of QEII on September 8th.
See also the discovery of an unique historic Essay from the 1956 showing a proposed Transition from this English to Sinhala and QEII to the Armorial Ensign of Ceylon..
An Unc Purple Rs 5 note dated 3rd June 1952
with Serial Number G/7 924349 sold on Heritage Auction
Lot 26324
for US$1800 in 2018 September.
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.
The Rs1 note was shown in 1984 British TV Satire, The Spitting Image, 10 second clip from Series 1 Episode 5