1952 Ceylon - Colombo Plan Exhibition

A unengraved medal from the Colombo Exhibition held in February 1952, the first Anniversary of the Colombo Plan for which a 50th Anniversary coin was issued in 2001. It was also the 21st Anniversary of Universal Adult Franchise in Ceylon for which a 50th Anniversary coin was issued in 1981. The two Stamps issued for exhibition list years 1931-1952

SPECIFICATIONS

Alloy Copper

Diameter 32.4 mm

Thickness 3.0 mm

Weight 16.41 gms

Shape Round

Edge Plain

Die-Axis 0°

1952_colombo_exhibition_obverse 1952_colombo_exhibition_reverse

Uncataloged

Obverse : COLOMBO EXHIBITION in English at the top, and left and right along periphery in Sinhala and Tamil. The Punkalasa Vase with lotus buds at center divide the date 19 52 at bottom all within a circle.
Reverse : Leaf pattern around center legend Awarded To on top in English and below in Sinhala and Tamil on left and right. Space between to engrave a name. Arches along periphery between plain circle.

This may be the first tri-lingual after independence in 1948 that uses Sinhala and Tamil in addition to English in description of item. Only the value appeared in Sinhala and Tamil on coins since decimal coinage started in 1870. There are no coins issued in Ceylon with the year 1952.

The medal was scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 200 dpi I thank Jan Lingen for kindly gifting me this special medal issued in my birth year and City. In April 2003, I had the privilege to visit and see his collection of rare Ceylon coins in Netherlands.