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| LK:SCWPM #045 | ||
The Notes are 108 by 57 mm i.e. 4 1/4 by 2 1/4 inches.
Printed by India Government Security Press.
Water-mark: None on paper of Unknown manufacture.
Front : Lilac and Multi-colour.
The portrait of His Majesty King George VI at left, the words
FIFTY CENTS at center. The value 50c in figures at angle
on the top two corners on either side of THE GOVERNMENT OF
CEYLON in one line. Just below the words in 3 lines
THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR PAYMENT OF AN AMOUNT NOT EXCEEDING
FIVE RUPEES. Date on left in 2 lines, and 2 signatures of
the COMMISSIONERS OF CURRENCY on right. The value
ශත පණහ in Sinhala on left, and
ஐம்பது சதம் in Thamil on right.
Back : Blank except for Serial Number.
| Date on BankNote | Signatures of Commissioners of Currency | First Serial # | Mintage in K | |
| 1ST FEBRUARY 1942 |  H.J. Huxham |  C.H. Collins | A/1 000001 | 16214 |
| 14TH JULY 1942 | A/17 214001 | 15951 | ||
| 7TH MAY 1946 |  O.E. Goonetilleke |  C.E. Jones | A/33 165001 | 5192 |
| 1ST JUNE 1948 | C.E. Jones |  T.D. Perera | A/38 357001 | 9286 |
| 1ST DECEMBER 1949 | A/47 643001 | >3332 | ||
The 50 cent Nickel Brass coin, made legal tender on 1943 November 25th but the issue of this banknote continued till 1949. For the 50 cents denomination 8.6 Million coins and 17 Million notes were issued over this period. Why banknotes continued to be issued after Nickel Brass coins had been legalised to replace the Silver is unknown.
The notes were demonetized with all notes dated before 1950 December 31st on 1955 August 26th and ceased to be legal tender with effect 1956 August 31st. Of over 50 Million note printed with in 5 dates in 1942 and 1949, 2.95 million were in circulation when the Central Bank took over and about 0.8 Million remain unsurrended ether lost or among banknote collectors.
The 50 cent Note ceased to be legal tender in 1956 but continued to be mentioned as Rs 0.4 Million within currency in circulation in Annual Report of the Central Bank and remained in error in that Statistical Table tabulated in a column till 1974 and as a footnote all the way till 2004 when error was pointed out by me to the then Superintendent of Currency.
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. He does not list the last date listed in Pick of which I have an Uncirculated 25c note.
All of these WWII fractional currency notes were only legal tender for payment of amounts less than Five Rupees. Maybe it was the lack of security features that made the Currency Board impose this limit.
Also interesting is the issue of these fractional notes both the 25 cents and 50 cents long after WWII till 1949. Brass coins were issued with fixed year 1943 in these denominations.
The lower denomination 10 cent and 25 cent notes had portrait at center. This and all higher denomination Ceylon currency notes of both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth have the portrait on left.
The notes were scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi. The AU currency note (above) is from a set saved by my father. A circulated 1942 note I obtained from a lot of Ceylon WWII notes I won on eBay in 2002 July. Many of these notes brought back by WWII servicemen are getting on eBay, probably as their kids are not interested.