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Obverse : The crest of the People's Bank with 8 notch gear wheel with paddy sheaves on either side
and and a pair of hands covering the bottom notch within two concentric circles
and the name
මහජන බැංකුව
in Sinhala on top
மக்கள்
வங்கி in Thamil on right
and PEOPLE'S BANK on left separated by 3 dots.
selectively gold plated. Below the years 1961 and
2011 on either side of a decorative 50. The phrase
ජනහද හඳුනන
in Sinhala, on top,
மக்கள்
மனமறிந்த
வங்கி
in Thamil, on the left,
THE PULSE OF THE PEOPLE on the right within the annulus,
with a ring of Lotus Petals along the periphery with raised rim.
Reverse : The large numeral denomination 1000 with
රුපියල් දාහයි
in Sinhala,
ஆயிரம் ரூபாய் in Thamil,
and THOUSAND RUPEES in 3 lines within octagon.
The year of issue 2011 at the bottom.
The country name
ශ්රී ලංකා in Sinhala, centered on top,
இலங்கை in Thamil
on left and SRI LANKA on right, with four decorative Pineapple designs along the diagonal
corners of octagon as separators, and a ring of Lotus Petals along the periphery with raised rim.
The artwork was done by Central Bank artist Mr Kelum Gunasekera.
The frosted proof coin has been struck with one ounce of sterling
silver to the British crown coin size. Enclosed in a circular coin
capsule it is embedded in black velvet inside a Burgundy leatherette
covered 7.5cm square spring hinged Royal Mint presentation box. The
Emblem of the Royal Mint is printed in silver on the white
satin of the inside cover. A printed numbered Certificate of
Authenticity contains the specifications and the text in Sinhala,
Tamil and English.
This is the second Sri Lankan Silver coin issued with selective Gold Plate. The last was the 2006 Buddha Jayanthi 2550 B.E. Rs2000 coin.
The Rs 1,000 coin was officially handed over to Hon. Minister of
Finance, H.E the President Mahinda Rajapaksa by Mr. Ajith Nivard
Cabral, the Governor of the CBSL, at Colombo on 2011 July 1st. It was
sold to public by CBSL with a strict limit of one per customer from
2011 July 4th for the issue price was Rs 8000/- (US $73).
Of the very limited 2300 Minted, 2000 was given to People's Bank leaving only 300 for CBSL archive and sale to Public. About 200 were sold by CBSL. Although demand was less because of price, this has become an very difficult collector item since the People's Bank did not put their extra stock on sale to public. They declined a request from the Sri Lanka Numismatic Society. It is rumored that about 700 were distributed at function, and another 700 given to best customer of each branch. In 2013 it is rumoured that one was traded for more than 10 times the issue price.
Read my article, an edited version of which was published as People's Bank 50th anniversary crown- out of reach of most people? in Sri Lanka Sunday Times online on 2011 August 22nd.
The coin was obtained from CBSL on 2011 July 4th and scanned at 600 dpi
and the images displayed at 254 dpi. Also displayed above are
scans of Artwork sent to Royal Mint, included in CBSL Press release.