Catalog
50 Rupees
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation, Colombo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1851-1880 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Indian rupee (1835-date) |
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| Obverse description | The note carries a central vignette of the Royal Arms flanked by the numeral 50 in ornate cartouches at upper left and right, with serial numbers in the lower corners. The text 'THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION' is inscribed in bold letterpress across the upper central field, beneath a header reading 'Incorporated by Royal Charter', with a promise-to-pay clause in copperplate script below. Inscriptions in Sinhala and Tamil appear at the upper left and right respectively, and the note is framed by a fine guilloche border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ශ්රී ලංකාව இலங்கை Incorporated by Royal Charter THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Office here FIFTY RUPEES or the equivalent in the Currency of this Island. Value received. By order of the Court of Directors. Manager No C2347 COLOMBO |
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| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation operated in Ceylon under a Royal Charter granted in 1851, making it one of the earliest British-chartered overseas banks with branch-issue privileges in the colony. The Colombo branch had authority to issue notes independently — a common but politically contested arrangement that the Colonial Office repeatedly reviewed throughout the 1860s and 1870s as local merchants lobbied for tighter controls on private bank circulation.
The bank collapsed in 1884, and outstanding notes became worthless almost immediately. Surviving examples from the Colombo series are scarce precisely because circulation in Ceylon was genuine and heavy — these were working instruments, not prestige pieces held back by careful hands.