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1 Rupee

Issuer Government of Ceylon
Year 1941-1949
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Value 1 Rupee
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Reverse lettering GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON ELEPHANT'S HEAD
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Protection type Watermark
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Comments

Ceylon's small-format rupee notes of this period were a direct product of wartime logistics. With Japanese forces advancing through Southeast Asia in 1941–42, the island's status as a British imperial hub made currency supply a genuine operational concern. The Government of Ceylon — rather than the Ceylon Currency Board or any banking institution — retained direct note-issuing authority for the one-rupee denomination throughout this period, a deliberate policy holdover from earlier colonial fiscal practice.

De La Rue printed the series in London across nearly a decade, an unusually long run that produced multiple signature varieties. Collectors distinguish these primarily by the Secretary to the Treasury signatures, of which several appear across the P#34 type.

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