ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව
Ceylon Armorial Ensign - 1956-1959

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 & C^O L^D 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	Squarish	Scallop	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 Finance	Governor Central Bank of Ceylon
1956-7-30 1956-10-24 1957-5-31 1958-4-9 1958-10-6 1958-11-7 Stanley de Soysa A.G.Ranasingha
1959-7-1 1959-9-11 Stanley de Soysa W.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.