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100 Rupees
| Issuer | Government of Ceylon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1926-1939 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green, the reverse carries a central intaglio vignette of a Ceylon elephant standing amid tall palm trees in a tropical landscape, set within an oval pearl-beaded frame. The central vignette panel is enclosed by an elaborate engine-turned border of scrollwork, floral rosettes, and foliate arabesques extending to all four corners. The overall design is executed in a single green ink with fine line-engraved detail characteristic of De La Rue production of the period. |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Government of Ceylon — rather than a central bank — remained the direct currency issuer well into the colonial period, a structural holdover that distinguished Ceylon from many contemporaries where banking institutions had already assumed that role. These high-denomination notes circulated in a colonial economy dominated by tea and rubber export revenues, where a 100-rupee note represented serious transactional weight for most of the population.
De La Rue's London production for this series relied on watermarked paper as the primary security feature, modest by later standards but consistent with the printer's output for British colonial territories through this period. The long issue window — over a decade — means date variants within P#27 carry meaningfully different scarcity profiles.