The Government of Ceylon : 1885
Hand-signed Currency Rupees Note

The Uniface currency notes in Rupees issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency of The Government of Ceylon, with the standard front format of Colonial currency. This first issued of 1885 was hand signed at time of issue.

images/1885_tgoc_5r_e_pf.jpg&images/1885-01-01_tgoc_5r_cpf.jpg 1885_tgoc_5r_watermark
LK:SCWPM #011Highlighted Watermark image
Click image to see Higher resolution image
digitally transformed from color pattern

The Five Rupees ( රුපියල් පහයි in Sinhala; ஐந்து ரூபாய் in Thamil ) Notes
are 165 by 127 mm i.e. 6½ by 5 inches with 6-inch Bar.
Date on BankNoteSignatures of
Commissioners of Currency		First Serial #Mintage
in K
1st January, 1885 Hand Signed A/1 00001 250

The Ten Rupees ( රුපියල් දහයයි in Sinhala; பத்து ரூபாய் in Thamil ) Notes
are 203 by 127 mm i.e. 8 by 5 inches with 6-inch Bar.
Date on BankNoteSignatures of
Commissioners of Currency		First Serial #Mintage
in K
1st January, 1885 Hand Signed B/1 00001 250

The Fifty Rupees ( රුපියල් පනහයි in Sinhala; ஐம்பது ரூபாய் in Thamil ) Notes
are 216 by 120 mm i.e. 8½ by 4¾ inches with 7-inch Bar.
Date on BankNoteSignatures of
Commissioners of Currency		First Serial #Mintage
in K
1st January, 1885 Hand Signed C/1 00001 10

The Hundred Rupees ( රුපියල් සියයයි in Sinhala; நூறு ரூபாய் in Thamil ) Notes
are 216 by 146 mm i.e. 8½ by 5¾ inches with 7½-inch Bar.
Date on BankNoteSignatures of
Commissioners of Currency		First Serial #Mintage
in K
1st October, 1885 Hand Signed D/1 00001 5

Printed by Thomas De La Rue & Co., London
Handmade paper manufactured by Messrs Portals.

Front : Black and Green on White paper with huge VALUE at center background. THE GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON centered on top above Promises to pay the Bearer on Demand the Sum of. In a bar the value in words VALUE RUPEES with Micro printing of same around. On either side, a numeric # with RUPEES in an arc below, within a circle. Just below the value Denomination in Sinhala to left, and in Thamil on right. The Black Serial number above on both left and right, with Colombo, 1st January 1885 centered below. In panel in two lines FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON with Micro printing of same around at bottom left with space for Two signatures at right and COMMISSIONERS OF CURRENCY. below. Printer name THOS.DE LA RUE & CO LONDON. at bottom left.
Back : Blank
Watermark : At center huge VALUE RUPEES in 2 lines dark with light shadow to lower right. A vertical triple ZigZag lines dark with light between to right, and light Elephant and Dagaba Bubble shaped with Pinnacle and lightning conductor to the upper left with a light leafy liyavala below it. Centered below within decorative panel with dark rectangular border THE GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON dark with light outline.

The 1885 January issue was hand signed by any 2 of 3 Commissioners of Currency
John Douglas Colonial Secretary 1878-08-18 - 1885-11-16
William Henry Ravenscroft Auditor General 1877-05-23 - 1890-10-17
William Dumaresq Wright Colonial Treasurer 1882-06-22 - 1885-06-11
or anyone acting on their behalf, as seen in above hand signed example.

The notes were demonetized with all notes dated before January 1, 1940 on 1946 April 13th and ceased to be legal tender with effect July 31, 1946.

The details of this issue are from Sri Lanka Currency of Recent Times 1938-1985 T. M. U. Sallay, 1986 Colombo:Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The 150 dpi hand signed example is a combination of 2 halfs of different notes A/1 821189 for left and A/2 000090 for right half is from Spink Auction 22173 Lot 1163 which I lost at £521 including BP and VAT is displayed at 50 dpi.
I thank Owen Linzmayer for sending me a 300 dpi resolution image of a Magenta color pattern. I digitally transformed the Magenta to Black of the issued note for illustration
I have not even seen images of any of the Higher denomination notes. If you have any of these notes, I would be grateful to get 300 dpi scans which will be posted with desired acknowledgement.

In 2022 summer Government of Ceylon (1885-1925) Watermark paper for 2x2 banknotes without any printing of denomination Rs5, Rs10, Rs50, and Rs100 were sold at a recent Spink auction. A similar 2x2 for denomination Rs 2 and a single Rs1000 was sold on eBay by a dealer in the UK, with the statement "I acquired this item about 50 years ago from the family of the watermarker". These banknotes were printed by DeLaRue, so I assume that they were obtained by the Portels family who made the Handmade watermarked paper for DeLaRue.

The watermark image was Photoshoped from an image of a sheet of four Rs 5 watermark paper posted in 2022 July Spink Auction 22177 Lot 107 which sold for £1178 including BP and VAT. The watermark for 1885 as seen on Banknote is observed to be similar as this for 1887.
Note that if Banknote has photographed with a black background and digital contrast enhanced, it effectively inverts Dark to light and light to dark as seen faintly on this Banknote image. It is best to image Watermarks with a bright light behind.