2 Rufiyaa

Waterlow & Sons printed this note for the Maldivian State during a period when the islands had no central bank — the Maldives State Bank was not established until 1947, and formal monetary institutions remained rudimentary well into the 1950s. The Rufiyaa series of which this is part represents the first properly organized government-issued paper currency for the islands, replacing the informal arrangements that had defined Maldivian exchange for generations.

Waterlow's involvement was typical of British colonial and associated territories at the time, though the Maldives was technically a sultanate under British protection rather than a colony. The relationship ended when Waterlow was absorbed by De La Rue in 1961 — just as this series was being retired.