Essay for Central Bank of Ceylon
with date 1976-8-21

Appears to be a Proposed series of notes designed before issue the 1979 Flora and Fauna series, which included the Rs20 note for the first time. It seems to have envisaged the removal of the low denomination Rs2 which was last issued with 1979 Flora and Fauna series and the addition of the high denomination Rs500 which was introduced in 1981.

Denomination : 5 Rupees Base Color : Red & Brown Under-print : Pink, Blue & Yellow English : Five Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් පහයි Thamil : ஐந்து ரூபாய் Size :  127x 67 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 293 Front Pictorial :  Women tapping Rubber on right Back Pictorial  :  Central Bank Triple High Rise on left
Denomination : 10 Rupees Base Color : Green & Purple Under-print : Brown Blue & Yellow English : Ten Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් දහයයි Thamil : பத்து ரூபாய் Size :  127x 67 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 294 Front Pictorial :  Dam on Right Back Pictorial  :  Central Bank Triple High Rise on left
Denomination : 20 Rupees Base Color : Dark Blue & Purple Under-print : Pink & Yellow English : Twenty Rupees Sinhala : රුපියල් විස්සයි Thamil : இருபது ரூபாய் Size : 137 x 70 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 295 Front Pictorial :  Farmer tending to Paddy field with rake, coconut palms and mountains in background on right Back Pictorial :  Central Bank Triple High Rise on left
Denomination : 50 Rupees Base Color : Purple, Red & Gray Under-print : Pink & Yellow English : Fifty Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් පනහයි Thamil : ஐம்பது ரூபாய் Size : 146 x 73 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 296 Front Pictorial :  Ceremonial Tusker Adorne with Tooth relic casket with Mahout on right Back Pictorial :  Central Bank Triple High Rise on left
Denomination : 100 Rupees Base Color : Brown, Olive & Purple Under-print : Pink, Blue & Yellow English : One Hundred Rupees Sinhala :  රුපියල් සියයයි Thamil : நூறு ரூபாய் Size : 156 x 76 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 297 Front Pictorial :  Kandy Lake with Temple of Tooth and forest behind on right. Back Pictorial :  Central Bank Triple High Rise on left
Denomination : 500 Rupees Base Color : Dark Green & Brown Under-print : Pink & Yellow English : Five Hundred Rupees Sinhala : රුපියල් පන්සියයයි Thamil : ஐந்நூறு ரூபாய் Size : 165 x 79 mm Spink Auction 13034 lot 298 Front Pictorial :  Central Bank Triple High Rise on right Back Pictorial :  Farmer Plowing Paddy Field with coconut estate in background in center.
Denomination : 500 Rupees Base Color : Unknown Under-print : Unknown English : Five Hundred Rupees Sinhala : රුපියල් පන්සියයයි Thamil : ஐந்நூறு ரூபாய் Size : 165 x 79 mm Spink Auction 19023 lot 140 Front Pictorial :  Toddy Tapper between Coconut Palms on right Back Pictorial :  Central Bank Triple High Rise on left

Front: Front Pictorial scene of Sri Lanka.
At top ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, with இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON below in English above ශ්‍රී ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක් ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය in three lines. The Numeric date 1976-8-21 without leading zero below Facsimile signatures in Sinhala of N. M. Perera above මුදල් ඈමති, and of Herbert Tennekoon above මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති. Value in Sinhala රුපියල් Thamil ரூபாய் and English RUPEES Two Serial Nos upper left and Right.
Back: Back Pictorial Central Bank of Ceylon Building in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
On top ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English below. Value in Sinhala රුපියල් Thamil ரூபாய் and English RUPEES No printers name at bottom margin in small script
Most Probably Bradbury Wilkinson as the same Paddy Field Reverse on the Rs500 appears on 1971-2-15 Rs2 note which has their name printed on it.

The back of the note is not posted in online catalog and is from much lower resolution image from Auction Catalog PDF file.

The first six notes at 300 and last 150 dpi are displayed at about 50 dpi if assuming height of 1981 notes. The backs are 43,41,40,38,36,35 and 150 dpi
I thank Arnas Savickas and Elaine Fung of Spink for the 300 dpi images of the front of the notes. Unfortunately Spink has not saved the backs. If you have any higher resolution images of the backs please contribute to kavanr @ gmail.com

From 2013 October 2nd, Spink Auction lots 293-298 sold for a total of £7500+44%BP+V.
The different Rs500 within a lot of 41 printers archival photographs was listed in 2019 April 17th Spink Auction and sold for £2100+44%BP+V. The Gray-scale images of archival photographic proofs of the Rs500 have been Sepia toned.