Catalog
10 Rupees Oriental Bank Corporation
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Yes |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on red underprint; allegorical enthroned female figure flanked by lions at left, bust of Mercury with caduceus at right, and British royal coat of arms at upper centre. Bilingual denomination inscriptions in Sinhala and Tamil appear below the central text panel. Printer's imprint of Bradbury Wilkinson & Co. at lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in red and blue; intricate guilloche latticework fills the central panel, with a bold numeral 10 at centre. Female portrait vignettes at left and right face inward, flanking the central denomination. Sinhala and Tamil denomination inscriptions appear in the lateral margins. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation collapsed in May 1884, making any note issued in the final years of its operation — including this 1881 example — part of a very short window of survival. The bank had weathered an earlier crisis in 1866 but could not absorb the catastrophic losses from failed coffee and indigo plantations across Ceylon and India. When the doors closed, noteholders faced significant losses; the liquidation dragged on for years.
Bradbury Wilkinson had been producing the corporation's notes since the mid-nineteenth century. Their intaglio work for colonial banking clients of this period is among the finer commercial engraving produced in London at the time.