Catalog
10 Pounds
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation, Colombo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1846-1850 |
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| Value | 10 Pounds |
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| Obverse description | Uniface specimen note with engraved vignette at centre depicting the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom flanked by a unicorn to the left and a lion to the right, with crossed flags in the background, all executed in fine intaglio. The upper portion bears the legend CEYLON BRANCH in bold letterpress, with TEN repeated in ornate cartouches at upper left and right, and denomination numerals in Sinhala script in the corresponding corners. The lower portion carries a letterpress promise-to-pay text in copperplate script, concluding with BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, and overprinted SPECIMEN at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CEYLON BRANCH. TEN TEN No No COLOMBO, 18 THE ORIENTAL BANK, Promises to pay the Bearer on demand at the Office of its Branch here in the Currency of the Islands TEN POUNDS, Value received. BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. BATHO & BINGLEY, 56, Lombard Street, London. Enlt. ACCT. MANAGER. SPECIMEN. |
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| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation — chartered in Bombay in 1842 as the Bank of Western India before rebranding — expanded aggressively into Ceylon in the 1840s, operating as one of the first exchange banks to link Colombo directly to London capital markets. This note dates from that early period of establishment, when the branch was still building local credibility against entrenched agency houses.
Batho & Bingley handled security printing for several colonial and commercial banking clients during this period, though they never achieved the profile of Perkins Bacon. A Ceylon ten-pound denomination from this era would have been instrument-grade paper, moving between merchants and planters — not retail currency in any ordinary sense.
Survivors from the 1846–1850 window are exceptionally rare.