Catalog
2 Pounds
| Issuer | Bank of Ceylon, Colombo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1845 |
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| Value | 2 Pounds |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is executed in intaglio engraving on white paper with a classical Victorian layout. At upper centre, a large royal coat of arms with lion and unicorn supporters is flanked by the bank title 'Bank of Ceylon' in ornate script; to the left, a circular vignette presents a seated Britannia-type allegorical female figure with a bull and trident, surrounded by a decorative border with the inscription 'INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER'. The denomination 'TWO POUNDS' appears in a rectangular letterpress panel at lower left, with bilingual inscriptions in Sinhala and Tamil script above and below the English text, and two printed serial number panels reading 'No 2746' appear at centre. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | No second image provided; reverse description is not available for this trial note. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Ceylon was established by royal charter in 1841, making this 1845 note among the earliest paper currency issues from the island under British colonial administration. The bank operated from Colombo and maintained branches at Kandy and Galle, though notes of this denomination would have circulated primarily among merchants and the colonial administrative class — not the general population, who dealt almost exclusively in coin.
P#111A is exceptionally rare. The Bank of Ceylon was wound up in 1866 following a severe liquidity crisis, and surviving notes from this period are almost never seen in private hands. Most known examples reside in institutional collections.