10 Rupees

The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was one of the British exchange banks operating under Royal Charter — distinct from the later Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, though the two are frequently conflated. This Galle branch issue is among the rarest surviving examples from Ceylon's private banking period. The bank collapsed in 1893 following a liquidity crisis, and branch note stocks were typically recalled and destroyed at closure, which makes surviving provincial issues disproportionately scarce relative to Colombo counterparts.

Galle was then still a significant entrepôt for the southern Indian Ocean trade routes, though by 1880 its commercial dominance was already being eroded by the expansion of Colombo harbour.