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5 Rupees
| Issuer | Government of Ceylon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Rupee (1871-1972) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON FIVE RUPEES THUPARAMA DAGOBA |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Chinze (mythical lion guardian figure) |
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| Comments |
Ceylon's wartime currency arrangements were complicated by the island's strategic importance to Allied operations in the Indian Ocean. The Government of Ceylon — rather than a central bank — remained the direct issuer of low-denomination notes well into the 1940s, a colonial administrative holdover that persisted even as the war restructured nearly everything else about the island's economy.
Thomas De La Rue printed this series in London, which created real logistical exposure once German U-boat activity in the Atlantic intensified. Whether stocks were pre-positioned in Ceylon before the April 1942 Japanese naval raid on Colombo is not firmly documented, but supply continuity for circulating currency was a genuine operational concern for the colonial administration during that period.