1 Rupee

Ceylon's Government Currency Notes — as distinct from the Ceylon Government Savings Bank issues — were introduced partly to displace the private bank notes that had circulated since the 19th century. The 1 Rupee was the workhorse denomination, issued continuously across more than two decades, and notes from the later years of the series show considerable variation in the signature of the Currency Officer, making signature attribution more meaningful here than in many colonial series.

De La Rue held the Ceylon contract through this entire period. Paper condition is frequently poor on circulated examples — the tropics were not kind to cotton stock, and prolonged humidity tends to produce tidemark staining characteristic of this issue.