1981 - 1985 : Sri Lanka
Historical and Archaeological
500 Rupee note

The Central Bank of Ceylon (CBSL) issued on 1982 February 9th, for circulation, a 500 Rupee Currency Note in a series of Notes that started in 1981 on theme Historical and Archaeology of Sri Lanka
images/1985_01_01_lkha_500r_uvf.jpg images/1985_01_01_lkha_500r_uvb.jpg
Click on image to see Note Security under Ultra-Violet illumination
Predominant Color :Front - Brown with Pink, Blue, Yellow and Orange in background
:Back - Brown with Green leaves background decorate.
Size: 165 x 79 mm
Front: Landscape
Within a decorative border and center, Numeric 500 at all four corners. At upper center the value රුපියල් පන්සියයයි in Sinhala, ஐந்நூறு ரூபாய் in Thamil and FIVE HUNDRED RUPEES in English, at bottom center.
In Top center in Sinhala, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව, இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English in next two lines with decreasing font size.
Next in even smaller font thr Legality Legend in 3 lines
ශ්‍රී ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ
මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක්
ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය
Two Facsimile signatures above මුදල් ඈමති, and next මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති.
Below Date 198Y-01-01
Horizontal Serial number on lower left of center and upper right.
At right is image of the Stone Sculpture of a Elephant at the entrance to the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy.
Braille:Six small squares printed in relief incorporated vertically on the right hand side border of the note.
Back: Portrait
Within a decorative border, Numeric 500 at top left and Bottom right. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English, in 3 lines of decreasing font size, centered on top.
රුපියල් පන්සියයයි in Sinhala, ஐந்நூறு ரூபாய் in Thamil and FIVE HUNDRED RUPEES in English, in 3 lines of decreasing font size justified on bottom.
At center is image of the ancient Abayagiri Stupa in Anuradhapura. Foliage with red flowers on top and foliage with a bird at the bottom
At bottom centered just below horizontal decorate in small script
BRADBURY WILKINSON.
Watermark: Hereldic Lion standing on hind legs facing left with bent whip in right paw, Lion Lighter with outline including whip darker than paper.
Security Thin polyester thread of 1 mm width embedded in note. Micro-printing background pattern.
UV Printing: Front: Signature, Date and Serial Numbers, in Green. Three outlines of large Flag Lion with Sword in raised right paw in yellow three Upper left, upper middle and lower right.
Back: Highlight of Stupa, foliage at bottom and decorate around watermark panel in Greenish Yellow.
Latent image: Within the upper decorates in the motif at front bottom center, the Numeric value 500 written with horizontal lines on vertical line background, as seen on this 1200 dpi scan on right.

Denom.Date on
BankNote 		Finance MinisterCBSL GovernorFirst Serial #Mintage
in K
Rs.500 1981-01-01 Ronnie de Mel Warnasena Rasaputram J/1 000001 5,000
Rs.500 1985-01-01 Ronnie de Mel Warnasena Rasaputram J/6 000001 1,500
Rs.500 1985-01-01 Ronnie de Mel Warnasena Rasaputram J/7 500001 1,500

The note dated 1985-01-01 is scarce. It had 2 orders With only 1.5 Million notes issued in each. Each order has different format for Serial Prefix as shown on in comparison on left. It changed from a wide horizontal Dash used since 1977 to one that is just as wide as the Number below. The Font size is also larger as illustrated. Note that J/7 comes in both varieties.

Tuan Sallay does not mention the Second order in his book with orders till 1986. According to Fred Medis Bradbury Wilkinson after it was taken over by DeLaRue printed serial numbers on remaining stock of 1985 Rs500 notes for the new order and in the process changed the Serial Prefix format as shown.

The Printers name BRADBURY WILKINSON does not appear on 1981 Currency notes as it does for notes issued from 1982 to 1990 in small script on bottom centered just below horizontal decorate on back

Minister of Finance Governor
Central Bank of Ceylon
1981-01-01, 1985-01-01
Ronnie de Mel Warnasena Rasaputram

The Ashy-headed Babbler, (Argya cinereifrons) is catching what looks like a Lanternfly (Pyrops maculatus), which are common in Sinharaja on the lower back of the Rs500 note was identified in 2024 July as being from a Laki Senanayake Painting which was commisioned by Central Bank and essayed by Derek Friday who worked at Bradbury Wilkinson & Co from the 1950s until the 1980s. This part of Rs 500 design continued to be used till 1990. This was a truly amazing discovery of a Laki Painting on a this currency note.

Text edited from book Sri Lanka Currency of Recent Times 1938 - 1985 by Mr. T M U Sallay 1986 CBSL Colombo.
The note was scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi.