1980 - Sri Lanka - Flora and Fauna
Laki Senanayaka Painting
Bradbury Wilkinson Essay

Dusky Blue Flycatcher at Nest, Laki(1976)

When I met Laki in 2019 November at his hideout called Diyabubula, with Dominic Sansoni & Michael Meyler to discuss the publication of a book on the artwork used for the six 1979 Currency Notes, he mentioned that he had been asked to submit designs for the higher denomination Rs500 and Rs1000 notes and said his designs for these two notes were not used.

Ashy Headed Babbler, Laki(1979)

In an E-mail Laki said on 2019 November 14th I quote
Dom/ Michael, attached 2 images which I had planned to use for the 500 & 1000 Rs notes, but Bradbury Wilkinson informed me that the Central bank had wanted a change from the flora & fauna and I was not commissioned to go ahead. The Babbler belongs to Noel Dias (1979) and the Dusky blue to Kiran Devanayagam (1976).
Laki

CBC issued notes with a Historical and Archaeological theme with a date of 1981-01-01. The sad reason I understand was an internal conflict. Those that had designed notes for CBSL objected to the entry of an outsider. Same issue is known for the design of Stamps for the Sri Lanka Philatelic Bureau.

In 2024 February Fabrizio Raponi (IBNS 11206-R) asked me about an essay (image on left below) he had got from the family of Derek Friday who worked at Bradbury Wilkinson from the 1950s until the 1980s. It had a bird and Flora in a portrait layout like that used in the Ceylon Flora & Fauna banknotes of 1979.

Click to see Laki Painting and issued Rs500 back			Click to see Laki Painting and issued Rs1000 back

I asked Michael Mayler who who is editing a book about Laki's paintings used for the 1979 Currency notes and he identified it with one of a pair of faded photographs(click on two images on top) in C. Anjalendran's dossier on Laki Senanayke's paintings with No date or caption.

The essay on the left has a Ashy-headed Babbler, also called the Ashy-headed Laughingthrush (Argya cinereifrons) is catching what looks like a Lanternbug or Lanternfly (Pyrops maculatus), which are common in Sinharaja.
It has a Dothalu palm (Loxococcus rupicola), an endemic genus in the background. The bird is on a climber.

The essay on the right has a Green-billed Coucal (Centropus chlororhynchos) is holding a Leaf Insect (probably Pulchriphyllium agathyrsus) in its beak.
The tree in the foreground to the right with white leaves are Walu keena (Calophyllum bracteatum), an Endemic species. The liana with very dramatic undulating stem is Pus wel (Entada rheedii), not endemic. The tree in the background to the left is a Thiniya dun Shorea species, also endemic.

The landscape essay at the bottom was probabaly for the front of the Rs1000 based on the matching left of center location of watermark window has the Dusky Blue Flycatcher at Nest (Laki 1976), that Laki had suggeted. This is an endemic species, Dull-blue Flycatcher (Eumyias sordidus), so called now to distinguish it from an African Dusky Blue Flycatcher. It appears on the front right of the 2010 series of 50-rupee note

The birds are endemic to Sri Lanka, but the insects are not. There do not appear to be any other identifiable endemic species in the other the images.

Fabrizio had already consigned the essay to Noonan's and it went on Action on 2024 May 29th lot 307 with Noonan's using part of this unique essay on the cover of the Auction catalog. It had an estimate of £150-£200 and I was able to win it for £420+BP, to bring it back to Lakdiva.

Two each of all 3 engravings of Laki's Paintings done by Derek Friday of Bradbury Wilkinson went on Spink Auction on 2024-October-8th The 2 new engravings had an estimate £60-£120 and I was able to win lots 442 (£350+BP) and 444 (£420+BP), to bring them back to Lakdiva.

All of the 1979 Flora and Fauna had a semi circular coral pattern on both left and right on the Portrait back. These patterns are also visible in some of the Rs50 and Rs100 paintings by Laki and identifies them with Laki's paintings for banknotes, and the two paintings, at least three of which was made into an essay by Derek Friday of Bradbury Wilkinson. They were Printer designs done for the Rs500 and Rs1000.

Derek Friday Collection of Bank Note Designs & Essays, and Specimen Bank Notes produced at Bradbury Wilkinson were sold by Special Auction Services (SAS) in Two Parts on 2023-Oct-23 and 2024-May-02. Searching through those illustrated listings, I did not find any of these essays.

The painting on the right was used on the front cover of the 1990 book Sinharaja, a rain forest in Sri Lanka by Neela de Zoysa and Ryhana Raheem.

On 2024 July 31st, I serendipitously noticed that the lower part of the portrait back of the Rs500 note which was issued in 1981 as shown on left was almost the same as the lower part of the Bradbury Wilkinson essay. So BW&Co had in fact used part of Laki's painting on the Rs500 for which it was commissioned. This was a truly amazing discovery of a Laki Painting on a currency note.

Even Artist Laki did not know. It is unknown if Laki was paid in advance for the paintings by CBC or BW&Co. If Laki was acknowledged and informed of the use of his work, he would have known. This part of Rs500 design continued to be used beyond 1991. Laki would have used these currency notes in circulation in the 1980s. How did he not notice that part of his painting had been used on the lower back of Rs500. So maybe like most, never looked beyond the Denomination on a note when using in circulation.

This discovery was reported in Sunday Times of Sri Lanka on 2024 August 4th (§2 p8) An unrecognised Laki painting on a Sri Lanka banknote

It is now clear that Bradbury Wilkinson did start working on the preliminary suggestions of Laki for the Sri Lanka Rs500 and Rs1000 which resulted in these three Printer's Designs.

Printer design	Banknote design	banknote size	Denomination
73 x 156 mm B	71 x 158	79 x 165	Rs 500
74 x 162 mm F 69 x 162 mm B	75 x 167	83 x 175	Rs1000

The pysical dimensions of the of the Derek Friday Essay designs are approximately within a few mm the same as design region of the Rs500 and Rs1000 notes issued in 1981.

Part of the Rs500 design was even used on the back of the issued Rs500 from 1981-1990. The location of watermark on the upper middle matches that of the issued Rs500.

The 1981 Rs1000 note was issued with a peacock on the back which is not on any of Laki's paintings. However note that the peacock on the right has the same orientation, i.e. back view with head-turning right as the Green-billed Coucal on the right of Laki's painting.

I thank Michael Meyler for locating the images from C. Anjalendran's dossier on Laki Senanayke's paintings, and for identifying the birds and insects on these essays, as given above.
I thank Botanist Neela De Zoysa author of the book on SinhaRaja for the identity of the Flora.

If anyone owns or has an image of a Laki Senanayaka painting, used for one of the Sri Lanka 1979 Flora and Fauna Issue and not included in these webpages, please contribute digital image to kavanr @ gmail.com so that the painting is properly documented.

The PMG header of
2265746-001 Ceylon BACK PROOF ND(ca. 1978) No PMG grade. Submitted by Noonan's
2302359-009 & 2302359-010 Sri Lanka "Printers Design" (ca 1970s) PMG grade 65. Submitted by Spink
I emailed PMG asking how two examples of identical "Printer Design" get so different descriptions and grading?
1) One case gets a PMG grade and in the other no grade.
2) One from Ceylon, the other from Sri Lanka,
3) One ND (1978) the other ND(ca. 1970s) when it is actually from 1980.
E-mail reply said I quote These types of unlisted proof/printer's designs of notes that were never produced are a tricky area and they will only end up being graded at the grader's discretion. ... the first one (2265746-001) could be sent back to correct the country, but as previously mentioned, that still does not necessarily mean that it will be assigned a grade. I replied The PMG grade or labeling is not of any importance to me.

Part of notes.lakdiva.org.lk a website for
Banknotes of Ceylon and Sri Lanka since 1785.