2 Pounds

Ceylon's government-issued pound notes occupied an unusual administrative position: Ceylon used a hybrid currency system through much of the nineteenth century, with the rixdollar remaining in use alongside sterling-denominated instruments until the rixdollar was finally demonetized in 1828. This 2 Pound note therefore belongs to the very early period of sterling normalization on the island.

Perkins, Bacon & Petch were among the first printers to industrialize steel-plate intaglio engraving for security documents, a technique Jacob Perkins had brought from the United States. Their anti-counterfeiting geometry work was considered state-of-the-art for the period.

The thirty-year date span on this issue — 1827 to 1856 — suggests a single plate run with manuscript date completion at the Colonial Treasury in Colombo.