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1 Pound

Issuer General Treasury, Ceylon
Year 1827-1856
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Shape Rectangular
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Obverse description Central vignette of Britannia seated with lion and shield; elephant and palm trees in background. Issued at Colombo with manuscript date in the form 18xx. Printed by Perkins, Bacon & Petch in intaglio.
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Variants P#3r - Unsigned remainder
P#3s - Overprint: SPECIMEN.
Comments

Perkins, Bacon & Petch — operating under that name from 1840, before which they were Perkins & Heath — produced this note using the steel-plate engraving technique Jacob Perkins had developed specifically to defeat counterfeiters. Ceylon's colonial treasury was an early adopter; the quality of intaglio printing available in London far exceeded anything achievable locally at the time.

The issue spans nearly three decades, which almost certainly means multiple print runs with subtle plate differences. Distinguishing these by date is the obvious starting point, but paper quality and ink tone vary enough across the range to suggest the notes were not all produced in a single batch.