1981 - 1985 : Sri Lanka
Historical and Archaeological
Currency notes

• Followed series of Notes issued in 1979.
• The Last Five Rupee currency note issued, dated 1982-01-01 as it was replaced by the 1984 by a Five Rupee coin.
• The New High Denominations Rs 1000/- and Rs 500 worth about US$60 and US$30 on Date 1981-01-01 on Note (US$=Rs16.75). Was worth slightly less when issued into circulation US$49 (1981 December Rs20.55 per $) and US$24 (1982 February Rs20.68 per $).
• The Rs 1000 is the highest Value note ever introduced by CBC since it's inception to date.
  The Rs 2000 with Date 2005-11-02 was worth about US$20 (US$=Rs101.50) on that date and when issued in 2005 Oct. 17th US$18.60(US$=107.49) when issued
  The Rs 5000 with Date 2010-01-01 was worth about US$44 (US$=Rs114.40) on that date and when issued in 2011 Feb 4th US$45 (US$=Rs110.70) when issued.
  
• Identified by the distinctive Peacock on the back of the Notes which remained on it till 2010, the Rs 1000 was referred to as the Monara a name which is still used in 2018 to imply the highest denomination, although Rs1000 is now worth only US$6, and the Rs 1000 or the highest denomination Rs 5000, has no Peacock on it.
• UV printing for the Rs 1000 and Rs 500 followed the format used since 1974 August. On lower denominations Signature, Date and Serial Numbers, and part of central decorate. Outlines of large Flag Lion with Sword in raised right paw. A large numeric Denomintion highlighting design at center.
• Name of Printer not mentioned on 1981-01-01 date is mentioned as Bradbury Wilkinson without UK address from 1982-01-01 date on this series of Currency Notes.
• The Dash below the Prefix character remained much wider than numeric below till the second order of Rs 500 dated 1985-01-01 when it again matched the Numeric below as on 1977-08-26 and before..
• Last Series with name Central Bank of Ceylon. Next series of Notes dated 1987-01-01 was issued after change of English name to Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1986.

		Green	175x83 mm	Rs1000 note
		Brown	165x79 mm	Rs 500 notes
		Orange	155x76 mm	Rs 100 note
		Blue	146x73 mm	Rs 50 note
		Violet	137x70 mm	Rs 20 notes
		Green	127x67 mm	Rs 10 notes
		Red	118x64 mm	Rs 5 note

Minister of Finance	Governor Central Bank of Ceylon
1982-01-01, 1985-01-01 Ronnie de Mel Warnasena Rasaputram

Text edited from book Sri Lanka Currency of Recent Times 1938 - 1985 by Mr. T M U Sallay 1986 CBSL Colombo.
I thank Mr Mahesh Pirassath for typing the description texts in Thamil. The notes were scanned at 300 dpi and are displayed above at 25 dpi.