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10 Rupees Galle; Oriental Bank Corporation
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881-1884 |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 10 GALLE THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER රුපියල්දහයයි பத்துரூபாய் Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Office here or at their bank in Colombo TEN RUPEES value received. GALLE 1st December 1883. By Order of the Court of Directors ENTD. ACCOUNTT. MANAGER. CEYLON BRADBURY WILLKINSON & CO ENGRAVERS LONDON (Translation: Ten rupees.) |
| Reverse description | Red and blue print; two female heads in profile as vignettes at left and right, facing inward toward each other. Denomination rendered in numeral and word form with Sinhala and Tamil script equivalents. |
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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.