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15 Cents Ragama store; type 2
| Issuer | The Ceylon Ice & Cold Storage Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1901 |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress in black and red on pink paper. British Royal coat of arms at upper centre. A purple administrative hand stamp appears on the face. Text arranged in multiple registers across the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 15 Cts. GOOD FOR SUPPLIES FROM The Ceylon Ice & Cold Storage Company, to the Value of FIFTEEN CENTS Payable to Prisoner of War at the Company's Store, Ragama Camp. Manager. THE CEYLON ICE AND COLD STORAGE Co. Agents and Secretaries. |
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| Comments |
Private merchant tokens on paper — functioning as small change substitutes — were common in colonial Ceylon when the Royal Mint consistently failed to supply adequate quantities of low-denomination coin. The Ceylon Ice and Cold Storage Company operated a retail store at Ragama, north of Colombo on the Kelani Valley line, and issued these notes internally to manage transactions when fractional coin was unavailable. The "type 2" designation distinguishes a format or text variant from an earlier issue, though both circulated within the same narrow commercial sphere.
These pieces were redeemable only at the issuing store, which severely limited their survival — most were spent, lost, or destroyed when the company stopped honoring them.