1 Pound

The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was one of the British overseas exchange banks operating under Royal Charter, and its Colombo branch issued notes in the 1860s to serve Ceylon's export trade — principally coffee at that point, before leaf blight destroyed the industry in the following decade. Ceylon had no local central bank and the colonial monetary environment was largely managed through these chartered institutions competing for commercial business.

P#118K is among the rarest survivals from this issuer. The Colombo branch series is catalogued but almost entirely absent from the auction record, likely because most branch notes were retired through the bank's own clearing rather than accumulating in private hands.