Catalog
5 Rupees
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation, Jaffna |
|---|---|
| Year | 1864 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a classical Victorian letterpress style, with the Royal Arms vignette at centre — a lion and unicorn supporters flanking a crowned shield — beneath the legend INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER. Two oval guilloche panels at left and right each bear the denomination FIVE RUPEES, with Tamil script inscriptions above. The issuer name THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION is printed in bold letterpress across the centre, below which a manuscript promise-to-pay text reads: Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Branch here or at their Bank in Colombo FIVE RUPEES or the equivalent in the Currency of this Island. Value received, concluded by the printed legend By order of the Court of Directors, with manuscript date JAFFNA, CEYLON 15th Feby 1864 and Agent signature. |
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| Obverse lettering | FIVE RUPEES INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER JAFFNA, CEYLON 15th Feby 1864 THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Branch here or at their Bank in Colombo FIVE RUPEES or the equivalent in the Currency of this Island. Value received. By order of the Court of Directors. Ent'd Account! Agent. |
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The Oriental Bank Corporation was a British overseas bank chartered in 1851, operating branches across Ceylon, India, and the Far East before its collapse in 1884 — one of the more spectacular bank failures of the Victorian period, triggered by a combination of overextension in the Mauritius sugar trade and bad colonial lending. Notes issued from its Jaffna branch in Ceylon are among the most geographically specific of the entire series; Jaffna was a distinct commercial hub in the north, and the branch issued in its own name rather than under a general Ceylon heading.
The 1884 liquidation rendered all outstanding OBC notes worthless overnight. Surviving Jaffna branch paper is scarce precisely because so little was preserved after redemption failed.