Catalog
5 Rupees
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | රුපියල් පහයි ஐந்து ரூபாய் FIVE RUPEES INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER KANDY, CEYLON 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, Entd. Accountt. Manager |
| Reverse description | Reverse is blank, showing only the offset impression of the obverse printing visible through the paper. |
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| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation, chartered in London and operating primarily across British colonial Asia, collapsed spectacularly in 1884 — making any surviving paper from the 1870s genuinely uncommon. The bank had overextended itself through bad agricultural loans in Ceylon and poor exposure to the Indian indigo trade, and the failure wiped out shareholders entirely.
Perkins, Bacon & Petch produced the plates using their characteristic steel-engraving method, the same technology that underpinned many colonial currency issues of the period. Notes of this series circulated across multiple Asian branches simultaneously, with manuscript branch notations distinguishing one paying office from another.