Catalog
10 Rupees
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation, Galle |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866-1880 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse presents the British Royal Arms vignette at centre-top, flanked by two oval cartouches each inscribed 'TEN RUPEES' at left and right, with the text 'INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER' arching above the coat of arms. The issuer's title 'THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION' is set in bold letterpress across the upper central field, with the place and date line reading 'GALLE, CEYLON' below, followed by the promise-to-pay text in cursive script referencing payment at their branch or at their Bank in Colombo. Inscriptions in Sinhala and Tamil scripts appear along the upper border, with guilloche border work framing the entire note. |
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| Obverse lettering | TEN RUPEES INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER GALLE, CEYLON THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION Promises to pay the Bearer on demand at their Branch here or at their Bank in Colombo TEN RUPEES or the equivalent in the Currency of this Island. Value received. By order of the Court of Directors. No. Ent. Account Agent |
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| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation was a London-registered institution with an extensive branch network across Asia and the Pacific — and one of the few private banks authorized to issue notes in Ceylon during the colonial period. The Galle branch issuance is notable precisely because Galle was already losing commercial primacy to Colombo by the 1870s, yet the branch retained note-issuing rights through the end of this period.
The Corporation collapsed in 1884, only a few years after this series closed. Notes that hadn't been redeemed before the failure were worthless overnight, and surviving examples almost certainly escaped circulation rather than outlasted it. Pick 148 is genuinely rare in any condition.