I. 1796-1824. FROM THE CAPITULATION OF COLOMBO TO THE ORDER IN COUNCIL INTRODUCING BRITISH CURRENCY.
1. Taking over of Dutch Currency-Introduction of English Copper.
The British occupied the maritime districts of Ceylon in 1795-6 and took possession of the Kandyan districts in 1815. In accordance with Article 6 of the Capitulation of Colombo they took over from the Dutch the promissory notes called Kredit Brieven (the first paper currency issued in Ceylon) which were then in circulation up to a limit of £50,000 and agreed to issue certificates for the amount bearing interest at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum payable half-yearly. The Dutch denominations were retained, the rixdollar being divided into 12 fanams=48 stuivers or pice=192 challies.
When the East India Company took over, the currency in Ceylon consisted of copper and paper. The rixdollar was an imaginary coin at the time merely used for keeping accounts, and the Arcot (or Madras) rupee, which was 12 fanams, was counted as the rixdollar. Before the British occupation the nominal value of this rupee was 30 stuivers though its real value was 48 or even higher.
The chief Indian standards at the time were the Star Pagoda and the Porto Novo Pagoda, both gold coins. The rate of exchange between these coins and the Ceylon currency, under the Dutch, was 1 Porto Novo Pagoda = 25½ fanams and 1 Star Pagoda = 30½ fanams. Under the British, the Indian currency increased in value relatively to the Ceylon stuiver. According to the Jaffna Diary the exchange on March 22, 1796, was 1 Porto Novo = 38½ fanams and 1 Star Pagoda = 45 fanams.
By Proclamation of June 8,1796, currency was given to all Dutch copper coins, the stuiver to pass at 48 to the rixdollar or 180 to the Star Pagoda; the English copper also were to be current, the larger at one stuiver and the smaller at half stuiver.
The coins current during the early British period were :
Other coins in use were :---
| Value in | |||||||||
| 1803. | 1822. | ||||||||
| RD. | P. | s. | d. | or | RD. | F. | P. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold. | |||||||||
| Venetian ducat | 6 | 24 | |||||||
| Bengal Muhr | 22 | 0 | |||||||
| Surat Muhr | 18 | 0 | |||||||
| Star Pagoda | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | = | 4 | 6 | 3 3/7 | |
| Porto Novo Pagoda | 4 | 0 | |||||||
| Tuticorin Pagoda | 4 | 18 | |||||||
| Fanam (South India) | |||||||||
| Silver. | |||||||||
| Spanish Dollar (416 grs.)* | 2 | 36 | 4 | 8 | = | 2 | 3 | 0 | |
| Surat (Bombay) Rupee (179 grs.)* | 1 | 24 | |||||||
| †Sicca (Calcutta) Rupee (179 grs.)* | 1 | 24 | 2 | 6 | = | 1 | 5 | 0 4/7 | |
| Arcot (Madras) Rupee (176 grs.)* | 1 | 18 | 2 | 3½ | = | 1 | 3 | 2 5/7 | |
| Fanam (South India) | |||||||||
* Weights in 1800. † From the Arabic "Sicca" = coining die.
The Government advertisement of July 4, 1817, rated copper as follows :
| English. | Dutch. | ||
| Challies | 4 | 3 | 1 stuiver or pice |
| 16 | 12 | 1 fanam | |
| 64 | 48 | 1 ridi | |
| 192 | 144 | 1 rixdollar | |
| Stuivers | 4 | .. | 1 fanam |
| 16 | .. | 1 ridi | |
| 48 | .. | 1 rixdollar | |
| Fanams | 4 | .. | 1 ridi |
| 12 | .. | 1 rixdollar |
Coins (both silver and copper) were struck locally and also obtained from the Royal Mint in England.
(i.) Copper : (a) Stuivers.-The first coinage-pieces of 1, 2, and 4 stuivers-was struck locally in April 1801, by Adrian Peter Blume each stuiver weighing 205.2 grains. In 1802 the Royal Mint supplied whole, half, and quarter stuivers the average weight of a stuiver being 147 grains. In 1805 a further quantity of stuivers (140 grains each) was struck in Colombo by Blume from a metal compound of 8 lb. of copper and 100 lb. of brass the latter obtained from old guns; and at Jaffna by one Chinnatamby from a mixture of 10 lb. of copper and 100 lb. of brass, each piece weighing 160.8 grains. The reason for the increased weight of the Jaffna stuiver is not known. In 1815 double, single, and half stuivers were struck at the Royal Mint on the basis of 50 stuivers to the pound. 1
(b) Pice. In March 1803 the Government provided 110,966 lb. of Japan copper to be coined into pice of the weight of 50 to the pound (i.e., 140 grs. a piece), 44 to be delivered to Government and 6 to go to Blume to cover his expenses.
(ii.) Silver : (a) Rixdollars.-In 1803 Blume struck double, single, and half rixdollars, the rixdollar to be worth 20d. intrinsically but to be circulated at about 25½d., each rixdollar of the first issue to weigh 152.5 grains and subsequent issues 140 grains, 10/12ths fine. In 1808-1809 double, single, and half rixdollars to the value of RD 692,000 approximately were coined by Blume of the same weight as the second issue of 1803 but with a reduced fineness. In 1822 owing to lack of metallic currency 400,000 rixdollars dated 1821 were obtained from the Royal Mint each weighing 138⅔ grains or one-third of a Spanish Dollar with a fineness of 891.6. This coin was intrinsically worth 1s. 6⅔d. at 4s. 8d. the Spanish Dollar but ordered.to pass at 1s. 9d. 2
(b) Anchor Money. In 1820 and 1822 silver fractions of the Spanish Dollar (quarters, eighths, and sixteenths) called "Anchor Money" having on the reverse an anchor-were struck in England and sent to Ceylon.
(c) Madras Rupees and Quarter Rupees. -- On March 22, and December 31, 1823, the Madras quarter and whole rupees, countermarked in Ceylon with a crown, were declared current by Proclamation at 4 fanams and 1⅓rd rixdollars respectively. 282,337 rupees and 260,000 quarter rupees were imported in 1823-24.
(d) Fanams. 2,095,467 fanams were minted in 1814-1815 locally at 12 to the rixdollar.
According to the Blue Book of 1824 the coins struck locally and in England were as follows :
| RD | |
| Silver struck locally, 1803-1809 . . . . | 981,030 |
| Rixdollars of 1821 . . . . . . | 400,000 |
| Copper struck locally . . . . | 357,640 |
| Copper struck in England .. . . | 261,599 |
Until 1811 the local work was done on contract, the charges being 4 per cent. for silver and about 25 per cent. for copper. In 1811 contract work was stopped and a Mint established locally with A. Bertolacci in charge. The charges for copper were reduced to about 11 per cent. Copper coins were minted in Ceylon till 1816.
The East India Company had fixed the value of the Star Pagoda at 45 fanams or 180 stuivers. The value of coins, however, varied from time to time, and at different places. In 1802 the Star Pagoda was reckoned as RD 4 or 48 fanams. It was actually RD 5 or 60 fanams in 1807; 70 fanams in 1809, and 80 fanams in 1813. The rixdollar was equal to 12 Ceylon fanams. The actual worth of the rixdollar (silver at 62d. per oz.) was just over 1s. 6d., yet in 1804-05 it was officially rated at 2s. 1 3/5d. Proclamation of March 13, 1812, rated the rixdollar at 1s. 9d., the reason assigned being that the rixdollar was originally valued with reference to the Star Pagoda and at a rate higher than its intrinsic value.
The Colonial Treasury issued bills on London for rixdollars at their nominal and not real value; and bills on Madras at 48 fanams or RD 4 for a Star Pagoda. The loss was only about 6 per cent. on the exchange into sterling. So long as bills were granted at the fixed rates no Ceylon coin was exported, but in 1805 on instructions from the Secretary of State the Government refused to accept from public servants rixdollars in silver, copper, or paper at the official value, declined to issue bills as before, but disposed of them to the highest bidder. The result was that the whole currency fell to the intrinsic value of its coins, and by 1809 practically all the silver, and by 1811 a good part of the copper, the oldest and heaviest, had left the Island. The depreciation of the coinage, and its scarcity, the rise in exchange and an unfavourable balance of trade brought about general distress and ruined commerce during the period 1811 to 1813.
Between 1815 and 1819 the exchange was RD 5 and RD 4 for a Star Pagoda and a Porto Novo respectively. In 1819, fanams 54 6/7 went to the Star Pagoda, 17 1/7 to the Sicca Rupee, and 15 33/49 to the Arcot Rupee. From this time the Ceylon fanam practically and, in 1823 actually, equalled the Indian anna. Towards the end of 1824 the exchange was about RD 15 to the £1.
The first issue of paper currency by the British was made in March, 1800, the notes being generally of the denominations of RD 100, 50, and 25 and redeemable in current coin. The history of paper currency is described in detail in Part II.
6. Counterfeiting, Commission, and Discount.
Regulation 12 of 1814 imposed penalties for counterfeiting coins which were current. In spite of this the coinage was still being counterfeited and Regulation 11 of 1824 was issued imposing further penalties. By Regulation 18 of 1822 it was made illegal to receive or pay for any silver or copper coin or Government notes any more in value, benefit or advantage, than the true lawful value, except lawful discount on such notes as were not expressed to be payable on demand.
The accounts were kept until 1802 in Star Pagodas, divided into Madras fanams and cash 3, or into Ceylon fanams and challies, as well as in rixdollars, fanams, and challies. In 1802 Ceylon came under the direct control of the Secretary of State for the Colonies and thereafter the accounts were kept in rixdollars, fanams, and pice instead of Star Pagodas, the rixdollar being rated at quarter of a Pagoda or 2 shillings.
Footnotes
Ceylon Currency British Period 1796-1936 By B. W. Fernando, Chapter I.
1939, Ceylon Government Press p.1-5
Contents Next Chapter II