1 Ryxdaalder

The VOC's Ceylon notes are among the final artifacts of a company already in terminal collapse. By 1796, the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie was functionally bankrupt — dissolved the following year and absorbed into the Batavian Republic — making this Kolumbo issue one of the last paper instruments the Company ever put into local circulation. The choice to continue issuing locally printed notes in Ceylon even as the Amsterdam headquarters imploded says something about the degree to which the Company's regional outposts operated as semi-autonomous financial entities.

The official stamp as the sole security feature reflects both the limited printing infrastructure available in Colombo and the VOC's longstanding reliance on administrative authority rather than sophisticated anti-counterfeiting technology. Pick 1 status confirms no earlier VOC Ceylon paper issue has been formally catalogued.