Central Bank of Ceylon
King ParakramaBahu - 1969-1972

Currency Notes issued between 1969 and 1972 by the Central Bank of Ceylon with the drawing of statue of Sage Pulasthi in Polonnaruwa, Sri lanka. Similar in type to notes issued between 1965 to 1968 except for addition of name of Central Bank of Ceylon in English and Tamil, on both front and bank of currency Note. The name in English had been replaced by Sinhala only in 1956.

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:  72a
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 1969-5-10 U.B.Wanninayake William Tennekoon E/178 000001 25,000
Rs.2 1970-6-1 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon E/203 000001 17,000
Rs.2 1971-2-1 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon E/220 000001 18,000
Rs.2 1971-6-7 N.M.Perera Herbert Tennekoon *E/238 000001 2,000
Rs.2 1972-5-12 N.M.Perera Herbert Tennekoon E/240 000001 20,000
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:  73a
Back Pictorial :  Stone Throne of King Nisanka Malla, in medieval City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.5 1969-5-10 U.B.Wanninayake William Tennekoon G/109 800001 12,000
Rs.5 1970-6-1 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon G/121 800001 9,000
Rs.5 1971-2-1 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon G/130 800001 24,900
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 : 74a
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 1969-10-20 U.B.Wanninayake William Tennekoon M/115 000001 20,000
Rs.10 1970-6-1 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon M/135 000001 16,500
Rs.10 1971-2-1 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon M/151 500001 18,500
Rs.10 1971-6-7 N.M.Perera Herbert Tennekoon M/170 000001 19,000
images/ste/kpb/1970_06_01_kpbte_50r_sp_f.jpg
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:  75
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 1969-10-20 U.B.Wanninayake William Tennekoon S/95 00001 1,000
Rs.50 1969-10-20 U.B.Wanninayake William Tennekoon S/105 00001 * (500)
Rs.50 1970-6-1 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon S/110 00001 *(2,000)
images/ste/kpb/1970_06_01_kpbte_100r_sp_f.jpg
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:  76
Back Pictorial :  Sigiriya Fresco of 5th Century CE
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.100 1969-5-10 U.B.Wanninayake William Tennekoon V/76 00001 879
Rs.100 1969-5-10 U.B.Wanninayake William Tennekoon V/84 79001 * (621)
Rs.100 1970-6-1 N.M.Perera William Tennekoon V/91 00001 *(1,500)
*(###) Notes that were never issued and destroyed after demonetization of 1970.
Click on front of Rs50 and Rs100 to see image of 1970-6-1 dated Specimen.

Front: Line drawing of Sage Pulasthi statue (called King ParakramaBahu the Great ) facing forward, within panel on right. Similar panel for water-mark on the left. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, with இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON below in English
at upper centre above

ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ
මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක්
ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය
in three 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 இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English below. 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.
Security: Metal strip same width of 1 mm for all denominations.
Micro-printing repeated in a range of varying small sizes in Sinhala, ශ්‍රීලංකා මහ බැංකුව on the back mostly within the watermark panel except for Rs100 where it is on upper and lower border.

Although the general layout of all the notes are similar, the shape and location of each of the elements are slightly different for each of the denominations.
Denomination Rs 2 Rs 5 Rs 10 Rs 50 Rs 100
Portrait Panel SquarishScallop Scallop Squarish Oval
Legality lines 3 3 3 3 3
Sin. Value lines 1 1 2 2 2
Front Lower Numbers None Both Both Right Both
Back Lower Numbers Right Both Both None Both
Front Tam. CBC Upper Left Left Left Center Left
Front Eng. CBC Upper Right Left Left Center Left
Back Sin. CBC Center Top Top arc Bottom Top Top
Back Tam. CBC UppCen LowLef LowLef UppCen UppRig
Back Eng. CBC UppCen LowRig LowRig UppCen UppRig
Front English Bottom Right Center Center Center Center
Front Thamil BotLef LowCen LowCen LowCen LowCen
Back Sinhala Center Bottom Right Right Bottom Bottom
Back English UppRig UppRig TopLef LowRig LowRig
Back Thamil UppLef UppLef TopRig LowRig LowRig
Back Pictorial Left Center Center left left

1969 Parakramabahu
Minister of FinanceGovernor
Central Bank of Ceylon
1969-5-10 1969-10-20
U.B.WanninayakeWilliam Tennekoon
1970-6-1 1971-2-1
N.M.PereraWilliam Tennekoon
1971-6-7 1972-5-12
N.M.PereraHerbert Tennekoon

Among the five denominations, each issued on 1 to 5 dates, there are 3 different signature pairs. There are 6 dates, two (1969) with first, two (1970-71) with second and tree (1971-72) with third. There were two Finance Ministers and Two Governors of Central Bank within 3 years. All three signature pairs the five of the dates are represented above.

* Sallay Lists E/237 Rs 2 notes with date 1971-2-1 date which associates this serial with W. Tennekoon. I thank, Prabath Manjula for image of E/237 note with 1971-6-7 date he saw listed for sale on Facebook. It is an error in Sallay's book, which needs to be investigated and corrected in table above. Sallay's record must have been based on orders, and signatures may have changed midway.

According to CBC Herbert Tennekoon took office in 1971 July. The regular terms of Governors of Central Banks start on July 1st. However there are a Rs2 and Rs10 notes dated 1971-6-7 with his signature. Is this an error in writing the date which should have been 1971-7-6

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