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5 Rupees
| Issuer | Government of Ceylon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941-1949 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Government of Ceylon This note is legal tender for the payment of any amount 20th December 1941 Five Rupees රුපියල් පහයි ஐந்து ரூபாய் |
| Reverse description | The central vignette presents an intaglio view of the Thuparama Dagoba at Anuradhapura, surrounded by trees and figures in the foreground, rendered in deep purple-brown on a guilloche-patterned ground. The denomination numeral '5' is repeated at the upper corners within ornamental cartouches, with Sinhalese and Tamil denomination inscriptions positioned at the lower left and right flanking the central scene. A blank oval reserve at left centre accommodates the watermark. |
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| Comments |
Ceylon's Government Currency Notes — as distinct from the Ceylon Government and later Central Bank series — occupied an awkward institutional space: technically issued under the authority of the colonial government rather than a central bank, they circulated through a wartime economy that was simultaneously a major Allied supply hub and under genuine threat of Japanese naval pressure in the Indian Ocean. The 1942 raids on Colombo and Trincomalee forced the colonial administration to take emergency currency precautions, including contingency destruction plans for notes that might fall into enemy hands.
De La Rue printed this series in London throughout a period when the firm's own facilities had been damaged by the Blitz, making production continuity a recurring logistical problem across multiple colonial currency contracts simultaneously.