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10 Rupees
| Issuer | Oriental Bank Corporation, Badulla |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881-1884 |
| Type | Pattern or trial banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER BADULLA CEYLON TEN RUPEES TEN 10 Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at their Branch here or at their Bank in Colombo Ten Rupees Value received Entr. Recount. Agent. |
| Reverse description | Printed in rose-red and blue-grey on plain paper, the reverse displays two facing female profile vignettes at centre set within an ornate guilloche underprint, with the numeral '10' at top centre and repeated in each corner. Sinhalese and Tamil script legends appear at left and right of the central vignette pair. The overall layout is symmetrical, with fine lathe-work border patterns framing the entire field; a cancel perforation is visible at the centre of the note. |
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| Comments |
The Oriental Bank Corporation collapsed in May 1884 — one of the most spectacular bank failures in British colonial history. Overexposed across India, Ceylon, and the Far East, the OBC went into liquidation with liabilities that dwarfed its reserves, leaving note holders across multiple territories scrambling for redemption. Notes issued from the Badulla branch in Ceylon's hill country, serving the tea and coffee planting districts, would have circulated among estate managers, merchants, and suppliers rather than passing through any major commercial center.
The 1881–1884 date window means any surviving example from this branch was issued in the bank's dying years. Badulla branch material is scarcer than Colombo issues.