Catalog
2 Pounds
| Issuer | General Treasury of Ceylon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1827-1856 |
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| Printer | Perkins, Bacon & Petch |
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| Obverse description | Britannia seated at centre, accompanied by a lion and shield, with an elephant and palm trees in the background vignette. Issued at Colombo, with denomination TWO POUNDS in letterpress. Printed by Perkins, Bacon & Petch. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain back with light show-through of the obverse vignette visible on the aged cotton paper. No printed design elements present on the reverse. |
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| Comments |
The General Treasury of Ceylon issued notes directly — not through a chartered bank — making this an unusual example of crown colony fiscal paper rather than commercial banking currency. Perkins, Bacon & Petch were the dominant security printers of the period, responsible for the intaglio work on early postage stamps across the British Empire, and their engraving quality was markedly superior to most contemporary colonial note production.
The thirty-year span of dates attributed to this issue reflects a common colonial practice of issuing against a single authorization rather than reprinting on schedule. Individual examples will carry manuscript dates within that window.