50 Rupees

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.