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1 Rupee
| Issuer | Government of Ceylon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Rupee (1871-1972) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Portrait of King George VI in military uniform set within an oval vignette at left centre, against a multicolour guilloche underprint. The denomination ONE RUPEE is printed in large letters at centre, with the promise-to-pay legend above and the date 1ST FEBRUARY 1941 below. Two signature lines for the Commissioners of Currency appear beneath the central text, with Sinhalese and Tamil inscriptions running along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON ELEPHANT'S HEAD |
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| Comments |
Ceylon's Government of India Act obligations meant the rupee note series issued here was technically a subsidiary of the broader Indian monetary framework — the Government of Ceylon only gained fuller independent currency authority after 1949 with the establishment of the Central Bank. This 1941 note sits in that ambiguous interregnum, issued by a colonial administration whose monetary policy was still closely tied to Wartime India's financing pressures.
Thomas De La Rue printed the series in London under wartime conditions, when paper and ink supplies were under allocation controls. Disruption to shipping routes between Britain and Colombo made distribution of printed notes a genuine logistical problem during 1941–42.