Catalog
100 Rupees
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation, Galle |
|---|---|
| Year | 1867 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a classical Victorian style, with the denomination numeral '100' in bold within ornamental panels at each upper corner, flanked by inscriptions in Sinhala and Tamil script. A central royal coat of arms vignette appears at the top, below the legend 'Incorporated by Royal Charter,' with the place and date of issue 'Galle, Ceylon 15th Feb.y 1867' in script beneath. The main text panel carries the issuer's name 'THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION' above a promise-to-pay clause in cursive lettering for 'ONE HUNDRED RUPEES,' with the authorization line 'By order of the Court of Directors' at lower right; the note is overprinted 'SPECIMEN' at the base. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | சாயல் பேயைய | நாறு ரூபாய் | Incorporated by Royal Charter | GALLE, CEYLON 15th Feb.y 1867 | THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION | Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Branch here or at their Bank in Colombo ONE HUNDRED RUPEES or the equivalent in the Currency of this Island. Value received. | By order of the Court of Directors | Ent.d | Account | SPECIMEN | Agent |
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The Oriental Bank Corporation was a British overseas bank chartered in 1851 and operating across Ceylon, India, China, and Australia at its peak. The Galle branch issued notes independently under the bank's Ceylon operations — Galle was then the island's principal port, eclipsed by Colombo only in the following decade as steamship traffic shifted.
The bank collapsed in May 1884, one of the more spectacular failures in Victorian colonial banking. Noteholders and depositors were left significantly exposed. Any surviving note from the Ceylon branch predates that failure by nearly two decades and almost certainly never re-entered circulation after the bank closed its doors.