2 Rix Dollars

Ceylon's rix dollar was already a currency in terminal decline when this note was printed. The Dutch had introduced the unit during their occupation, and the British inherited it along with the island in 1796 — but never fully committed to it. By the late 1820s, sterling was being pushed as the administrative standard, and the rix dollar was officially abolished in 1828, just two years after this note's issue date.

Local printing in Colombo rather than in London was unusual for colonial paper money of this period, and it shows — early Ceylon government notes are notoriously irregular in production quality, with significant variation in manuscript elements between surviving specimens.