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10 Rupees
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation, Galle |
|---|---|
| Year | 1883 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a classical Victorian commercial style, with the issuer's title "THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER" across the upper portion and the branch location "GALLE" in a cartouche at top centre. Two oval vignettes flank the central text panel: at left, a seated regal figure on a throne, and at right, a classical female figure; the denomination "10" appears in all four corners with guilloche ornamental borders. The central promise-to-pay text reads "Ten Rupees" and is dated 1st January 1883, with serial number in both Sinhalese and Tamil scripts flanking a Royal Arms vignette, above manuscript signatures and the word "CEYLON" in a lower cartouche. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | GALLE THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER TEN RUPEES CEYLON Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Branch here or at the Bank in Colombo Ten Rupees value received Galle 1st January 1883 |
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| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation, chartered in London in 1842, was one of the great imperial banks of the nineteenth century — and one of its most spectacular failures. By 1884 it had collapsed entirely, making this 1883 Galle issue effectively a note printed in the bank's final operational year. Notes issued from the Galle branch in Ceylon circulated across a mercantile economy dominated by coffee and, increasingly, tea, as coffee blight had been devastating plantations across the island since the 1870s.
The OBC's failure left noteholders exposed. Ceylon branch issues from this period are genuinely rare survivors.