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10 Rupees Galle; Oriental Bank Corporation
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881-1884 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on orange underprint; allegorical enthroned female figure flanked by lions at left, bust of Mercury with caduceus at right, British royal coat of arms at upper centre. Text includes bilingual denomination in Sinhala and Tamil scripts. Printer's imprint of Bradbury Wilkinson & Co. at lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | 10 TEN රුපියල්දහයයි பத்துரூபாய் (Translation: Ten rupees.) |
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| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation was among the earliest British overseas banks to issue currency in Ceylon, but by the time this note was printed it was already in serious trouble. The bank collapsed in May 1884 — one of the more spectacular failures in Victorian colonial banking — leaving note-holders and creditors exposed across multiple territories from Mauritius to Hong Kong. This Galle issue falls squarely within the bank's final operating window.
Bradbury Wilkinson handled the printing, as they did for much of the bank's note production. Galle, then still Ceylon's principal port before Colombo overtook it commercially, was designated as the place of payment — a distinction that matters for attribution, since notes payable at different branches were treated as separate issues despite sharing plate designs.