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1.000 Rupees
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation, Colombo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1851-1861 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1.000 Rupees |
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| Obverse description | Specimen note printed in black and grey on white paper, with a fine guilloche border framing the entire face. Two oval vignettes at left and right each bear the denomination '1000 RUPEES' in letterpress, flanking a central Royal Arms vignette above the inscription 'INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER.' The issuer's name 'THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION' appears in large bold lettering below, with the place of issue 'COLOMBO, CEYLON' above the promise-to-pay clause rendered in copperplate script, reading 'Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Office here ONE THOUSAND RUPEES or the equivalent in the Currency of this Island. Value received. By order of the Court of Directors.' Sinhalese and Tamil denomination inscriptions appear in the upper corners, and the word 'SPECIMEN' is overprinted at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ONE THOUSAND RUPEES THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION COLOMBO, CEYLON INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Office here ONE THOUSAND RUPEES or the equivalent in the Currency of this Island. Value received. By order of the Court of Directors. SPECIMEN No. Entd. Account. Manager. |
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| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation — chartered in Bombay in 1842 and operating across British colonial Asia — was one of the first exchange banks empowered to issue notes in Ceylon. The Colombo branch held that privilege through the 1850s, a period when privately issued banknotes still competed with government-issued currency across the island. At the 1,000 Rupees denomination, this note was not a retail instrument; it functioned in the interbank and merchant trade settlements that connected Colombo to Calcutta and London.
The Oriental Bank collapsed in 1884 following bad loans in the Mauritius sugar industry. Surviving high-denomination notes from the Ceylon branches are extraordinarily rare.