ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike - 1961-1965

Denomination : 2 Rupees Base Color : Brown & Lilac Under-print : Blue & Green English : Two Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් දෙකයි Thamil : இரண்டு ரூபாய் Size : 114 x 59 mm SCWPM-lk :  62 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 1962-11-8 P.B.G.Kalugalla W.Rajapatirana E/83   000001 15,000 Rs.2 1964-4-11 T.B.Illangaratne W.Rajapatirana E/98   000001 4,000 Rs.2 1964-6-12 N.M.Perera W.Rajapatirana E/102 000001 10,000 Rs.2 1965-4-6 U.B.Wanninayake W.Rajapatirana E/113 000001 10,000
Denomination : 5 Rupees Base Color : Orange Under-print : Aqua, Green & Brown English : Five Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් පහයි Thamil : ஐந்து ரூபாய் Size : 125 x 64 mm SCWPM-lk :  63 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 1962-11-8 P.B.G.Kalugalla W.Rajapatirana G/55 800001 10,000 Rs.5 1964-6-12 N.M.Perera W.Rajapatirana G/65 800001 16,000
Denomination : 10 Rupees Base Color : Green Under-print : Violet, Brown & Blue English : Ten Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් දහයයි Thamil : பத்து ரூபாய் Size :  140x 70 mm SCWPM-lk : 64 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 1964-6-12 N.M.Perera W.Rajapatirana M/35 000001 24,000 Rs.10 1964-8-28 N.M.Perera W.Rajapatirana M/59 000001 11,000 Rs.10 1964-9-19 N.M.Perera W.Rajapatirana M/70 000001 25,000
Denomination : 50 Rupees Base Color : Blue Under-print : Purple and multicolor English : Fifty Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් පනහයි Thamil : ஐம்பது ரூபாய் Size : 151 x 79 mm SCWPM-lk :  65 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 1961-11-2 Felix R. Dias Bandaranaike W.Rajapatirana R/66 00001 2,200 Rs.50 1963-6-5 T.B.Illangaratne W.Rajapatirana R/88 00001 1,300 Rs.50 1963-6-5 T.B.Illangaratne W.Rajapatirana S/1   00001 1,700 Rs.50 1964-6-12 N.M.Perera W.Rajapatirana S/18 00001 *(1,200) Rs.50 1965-4-6 U.B.Wanninayake W.Rajapatirana S/30 00001 3,000
Denomination : 100 Rupees Base Color : Brown Under-print : Purple, Green & Orange English : One Hundred Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් සියයයි Thamil : நூறு ரூபாய் Size : 162 x 86 mm SCWPM-lk :  66 Back Pictorial :  Sigiriya Fresco of 5th Century CE
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial # 000 Pcs Rs.100 1963-6-5 T.B.Illangaratne W.Rajapatirana V/41 00001 1,000

Front: Portrait of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike facing left seriusly looking forward with mouth closed, within panel on right. Similer panel for water-mark on the left. 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 to five 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 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.
Security: Metal strip same width of 1 mm for all denominations.
Micro-printing repeated in a range of varing small sizes in Sinhala, ශ්‍රීලංකාමහබැංකුව on the back nostly within the watermark panel except for Rs100 where it is on upper and lower border.

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. Location of value in English and Thamil in the front and back of the note has moved after the decrease in the size of the note

Denomination	Rs 2	Rs 5	Rs 10	Rs 50	Rs 100
Portrait Panel	Squarish	Scallop	Scallop	Squarish	Oval
Legality lines	3	5	5	4	4
Sin. Value lines	1	1	2	2	2
Front Lower Numbers	None	Both	Both	Right	Both
Back Lower Numbers	Left	Both	Both	None	Both
Back Sin. CBC Center	Top	Top arc	Bottom	Top	Top
Front English Left	Bottom	Upper	Upper	Upper	Bottom
Front Thamil Bottom	Right	Right	Center	Right	Right
Back Sinhala Center	Bottom	Left	Left	Bottom	Bottom
Back English	UppCen	UppLef	TopLef	LowRig	LowRig
Back Thamil	UppLef	BotLef	TopRig	UppCen	LowRig
Back Pictorial	left	Center	Center	left	left

Minister of Finance	Governor Central Bank of Ceylon
1961-11-2 Felix R. Dias Bandaranaike W.Rajapatirana
1962-11-8 P.B.G.Kalugalla W.Rajapatirana
1963-6-5 T.B.Illangaratne W.Rajapatirana
1964-6-12 N.M.Perera W.Rajapatirana
1965-4-6 U.B.Wanninayake W.Rajapatirana

Note that as the Portrait of SWRD Bandaranaike facing left (Politics) is on the right and the watermark panel on the left, the pictorial on the back off Rs 2 Rs 50 and Rs 100 has moved to left.

Note that all denominations of this series are slightly smaller currency. The Pictorials in back are the same as the notes issued between 1956-1959 with Court of Arms of Ceylon.

Among the five denominations, each issued on 1 to 4 dates, there are 5 different dates and signature pairs all of which are represented above. There were five Finance Ministers with same Governor of Central Bank within 3.4 years.

Mrs Bandaranaike's SLFP lost election to UNP on 1965 March 25th. The Rs 2 and Rs 50 note with UNP's Finance Minister U.B.Wanninayake dated 1965 April 6th still has SWRD image. Although he remained in post for 5 years, he probably didn't want to wait for New Design notes which took six more months to get his signature on a Currency Note.
*(###) According to Sallay CBC had already printed 1.2 Million Rs 50 currency notes dated 1964-6-12 with SWRD portrait in red (Political color of Socialist party LSSP) as requested by with signatory N.M.Perera as Finance Minister. They were never issued and destroyed after demonetization of 1970.

This series overlaps with the series of Armorial Ensign of Ceylon with metal strip notes. Although the SWRD image replaced the Armorial Ensign of Ceylon in the Rs 50 in 1961 November 11 the Rs 2 and 5 was replaced only in 1962 November 8, the Rs 100 in 1963 June 5th and the Rs 10 in 1964 June 12th.

I was unable to find online, the photograph corresponding to this line drawing which was also used on a series of Sri Lanka stamps. May be a rendering by an Artist who also needs to identified. If known please inform me.

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.