100 Rupees

Ceylon's Government-issued rupee notes of this period existed in a peculiar administrative limbo — the island was technically a Crown Colony operating under emergency wartime powers, and the currency framework was correspondingly improvised. Thomas De La Rue in London continued producing these notes even as the Indian Ocean theater made delivery uncertain and Japanese forces threatened Sri Lanka directly; the April 1942 Colombo raid brought genuine disruption to colonial financial planning.

The P#38 series spans four years, meaning individual notes within the same Pick number can show meaningful variation in signatures reflecting different Colonial Treasurers. Establishing a precise issue date from the note alone often requires cross-referencing the signatory against appointment records.