ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව
Ceylon Armorial Ensign - 1956-1959

Currency Notes issued between 1956 and 1959 by the Central Bank of Ceylon with the Ceylon Armorial Ensign. The Official Language Act No. 33 of 1956, replaced English with Sinhala. The English text on Ceylon currency Notes was interchanged with the Sinhala, and the Queen was replaced with the Coat of Arms Ceylon. Note that the Armorial Ensign of Ceylon has the name of the nation in Sinhala as "ලංකා" excluding the "ශ්‍රී" (Sri) as was the name of the island in the ancient Ramayana. The Sinhala name Central Bank of Sri Lanka, was adopted in English only in 1986.
Denomination: 1 Rupee Base Color: Blue
Under-print: Orange & Green English : One Rupee
Sinhala රුපියලයි Thamil ஒரு ரூபாய்
Size : 108 x 60 mm SCWPM-lk :  56a
Back Pictorial :  Moonstone and ornate stone stairway to Vatadage in medieval City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Re.1 1956-7-30 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha A/68 000001 14,000
Re.1 1957-5-31 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha A/82 000001 10,000
Re.1 1958-4-9 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha A/92 000001 9,000
Re.1 1958-4-9 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha B/1   000001 1,000
Re.1 1958-11-7 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha B/2   000001 15,000
Re.1 1959-9-11 Stanley de Soysa W.Rajapatirana B/17 000001 28,000
Denomination: 2 Rupees Base Color: Brown & Lilac
Under-print: Blue & Green English : Two Rupees
Sinhala රුපියල් දෙකයි Thamil இரண்டு ரூபாய்
Size : 121 x 67 mm SCWPM-lk:  57a
Back Pictorial :  Circular Buddhist shrine, Medirigiriya Vatadage in medieval City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.2 1956-7-30 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha E/28 000001 6,000
Rs.2 1957-5-31 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha E/34 000001 6,000
Rs.2 1958-10-6 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha E/40 000001 6,000
Rs.2 1958-11-7 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha E/46 000001 7,000
Rs.2 1959-9-11 Stanley de Soysa W.Rajapatirana E/53 000001 12,500
Denomination: 5 Rupees Base Color: Orange
Under-print: Aqua, Green & Brown English : Five Rupees
Sinhala රුපියල් පහයි Thamil ஐந்து ரூபாய்
Size : 133 x 73 mm SCWPM-lk:  58a
Back Pictorial :  Statue of sage Pulasthi in medieval City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.5 1956-7-30 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha G/19 000001 5,000
Rs.5 1957-5-31 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha G/24 000001 5,000
Rs.5 1958-10-6 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha G/29 000001 5,000
Rs.5 1959-7-1 Stanley de Soysa W.Rajapatirana G/34 000001 5,000
Rs.5 1959-9-11 Stanley de Soysa W.Rajapatirana G/39 000001 1,300
Denomination: 10 Rupees Base Color: Green
Under-print: Violet, Brown & Blue English : Ten Rupees
Sinhala රුපියල් දහයයි Thamil பத்து ரூபாய்
Size :  146x 79 mm SCWPM-lk : 59a
Back Pictorial :  Guard standing with pot of plenty (punkalasa) in his left hand and in the other a sprouting branch complete with leaves, buds and flowers. A pair of midgets (Bahirawa) at on either side of his feet.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.10 1956-7-30 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha L/46 000001 7,500
Rs.10 1957-5-31 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha L/53 500001 7,500
Rs.10 1958-11-7 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha L/61 000001 12,500
Rs.10 1959-9-11 Stanley de Soysa W.Rajapatirana L/73 500001 12,500
Denomination: 50 Rupees Base Color: Blue
Under-print: Purple and multicolor English : Fifty Rupees
Sinhala රුපියල් පනහයි Thamil ஐம்பது ரூபாய்
Size : 159 x 89 mm SCWPM-lk:  60
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.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.50 1956-7-30 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha R/26 00001 1,000
Rs.50 1958-4-9 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha R/36 00001 1,000
Rs.50 1958-11-7 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha R/46 00001 1,500
Rs.50 1959-9-11 Stanley de Soysa W.Rajapatirana R/61 00001 500
Denomination: 100 Rupees Base Color: Brown
Under-print: Purple, Green & Orange English : One Hundred Rupees
Sinhala රුපියල් සියයයි Thamil நூறு ரூபாய்
Size : 171 x 98 mm SCWPM-lk:  61
Back Pictorial :  Sigiriya Fresco of 5th Century CE
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.100 1956-10-24 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha V/31 00001 1,000

Front: Ceylon Armorial Ensign, within panel on left. Similer panel for water-mark on the right. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala,
at upper centre above ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක් ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය in three or four lines. The Value in Sinhala රුපියල් in one or two lines at center. The Numeric date as Year-Month-Day without leading zero below. Facsimile Sinhala signatures above මුදල් ඈමති, on left and මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති below to right. One Serial No at center for Re 1 and Rs 2 and twice on lower left and upper right for rest. 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 both, right or none of lower corners. Centered in border ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala,
at upper centre above on top or bottom, in Sinhala Text. Value in Sinhala රුපියල් at Upper, lower, or right. Within border, Top or Bottom, value in English RUPEES 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.

The Pictorials in back are the same as the notes issued between 1952-1954 for Queen Elizabeth II.

Format of Date was also changed from Day Month Year used since early 19th century Ceylon notes, to Sinhala and more Scientific numeric format YYYY-MM-DD but with no leading zeros.

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 SquarishScallop Scallop Squarish Oval
Legality lines 3 4 3 4 4 3
Sin. Value lines 1 2 2 2 2 2
Front Lower Numbers None None Both Both Right Both
Back Lower Numbers Right Right Both Both None Both
Back Sin. CBC Center Top Top Top arc Bottom Top Top
Front English Left Bottom Bottom Upper Upper Upper Bottom
Front Thamil Right Bottom Bottom Bottom Bottom Bottom Bottom
Back Sinhala Center Upper Bottom Right Right Bottom Bottom
Back English 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 FinanceGovernor
Central Bank of Ceylon
1956-7-30 1956-10-24 1957-5-31
1958-4-9 1958-10-6 1958-11-7
Stanley de SoysaA.G.Ranasingha
1959-7-1 1959-9-11
Stanley de SoysaW.Rajapatirana

Among the six denominations, each issued on 1 to 5 dates, there are 2 different signature pairs. There are 8 dates, six (1956-58) with first and two (1959) with second. There were single Finance Ministers and two Governors of Central Bank within 2.2 years Both signature pairs and Six of the dates are represented above.

See also the discovery of an unique historic Essay from the 1956 showing a proposed Transition to this Sinhala from English and the Armorial Ensign of Ceylon from QEII.

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 notes were scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi.