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5 Ryksdaalders/Rixdaalders (of 48 Heavy Stivers Indian Money)
| Issuer | Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (United East India Company), Kolumbo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1795 |
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| Currency | Rixdollar (1783-1826) |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is heavily covered in multilingual manuscript endorsements and annotations accumulated over more than a century of circulation and transfer, written in Dutch, English, and Sinhalese. A large rectangular ink stamp reading 'CANCELLED' is applied centrally in bold letters, indicating formal demonetisation or withdrawal. Numerous dated entries, signatures, and marginal notations — ranging from the early nineteenth century through to the 1910s — attest to the note's remarkable longevity as a circulating instrument under successive colonial administrations. |
| Reverse lettering | CANCELLED Den 7 Jann 1806 Delkie 5 Rd Legged afgewezen aan den Lenen Romiel Bellthanke Den 15 January 1806 Colomes 22 April 1824 Van de Graaff en jaar payment of his maternal inheritance deposited in the said fund Colomes 22 April 1824 By order |
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| Comments |
The VOC's Ceylon operation issued paper money only in its final years — an organization that had traded in Asia for nearly two centuries using coin and credit instruments suddenly found itself short of hard currency as the Company collapsed under debt and mismanagement. These Colombo-issued notes date to 1795, the year the VOC was effectively wound down by the Batavian Republic following French occupation of the Netherlands. The Company ceased to exist formally on 31 December 1799.
The denomination in "Indian Money" stivers reflects the VOC's parallel currency accounting system used across its Asian territories, distinct from Dutch domestic values. Printing locally in Colombo rather than Batavia was unusual and speaks to the fractured logistics of the Company's last operational period.