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500 Rupees
| Issuer | Central Bank of Sri Lanka |
|---|---|
| Year | 1991-1992 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | A large intaglio vignette at right portrays a traditional Sri Lankan drummer in ceremonial attire, with a second drummer at center-right and a classical dancer at left-center, all rendered against an elaborate guilloche underprint in rose and orange tones. The denomination numeral "500" appears at upper left and lower right, flanked by multilingual inscriptions in Sinhala, Tamil, and English. The date is printed in black at center, with the serial number appearing twice in red at left and lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Central Bank of Sri Lanka Five Hundred Rupees |
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| Comments |
Thomas De La Rue had printed Sri Lanka's higher denominations continuously since the early post-independence period, and this 500 Rupee note falls within a transitional window in the series — issued across two calendar years as the Central Bank managed stock levels ahead of a redesign cycle. The 500 Rupee face value was, at the time of issue, a meaningful denomination in daily commerce, not merely a large-value reserve note, which explains the relatively heavy wear seen on surviving circulated examples.
The security thread used in this series is a simple windowed metallic type, predating the more sophisticated holographic threads De La Rue introduced into South Asian contracts later in the decade.