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1 Pound
| Issuer | Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London & China, Colombo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1864-1869 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CEYLON BRANCH INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER THE CHARTERED MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA, LONDON & CHINA COLOMBO ONE POUND By order of the Court of Directors Entd. Accountt. MANAGER SPECIMEN |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue on a plain white ground and relies entirely on geometric lathe-work for its design. A large central oval guilloche panel with fine engine-turned fill is flanked symmetrically by two circular guilloche rosettes, each bearing the numeral 1. No text appears on the reverse; the security effect is achieved solely through the intricacy of the engine-turned patterns. |
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| Comments |
The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was incorporated by royal charter in 1853 and operated across a sprawling network of Asian branches. Its Colombo branch served Ceylon's export trade — primarily coffee at this period, before the leaf blight of the 1870s collapsed the plantation economy entirely. A Ceylon branch issuing pound-denominated notes rather than rupees reflects the island's orientation toward British sterling commerce rather than the subcontinent's silver-based monetary systems.
Notes from this issuer are exceptionally rare in any condition. The bank was absorbed into the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China in 1892, and most surviving branch records and remaining note stocks were not preserved through that transition.