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Obverse : Depicts a soldier holding the National flag of Sri Lanka
with one hand and his weapon with the other, and the map of Sri Lanka
in the background, symbolizing the SLA safeguarding the territorial
integrity of the country.
Two more soldiers kneeling and ready for action on the right of the map.
The Motto
දිවි
පුදෙන් ලද
විජය in Sinhala on top,
தியாகத்தின்
ஊடாக வெற்றி
in Thamil on the left,
and VICTORY THROUGH SACRIFICE on the right with
ශ්රී ලංකා
යුද්ධ
හමුදාව(Sri Lanka Army) in Sinhala only
at bottom within a circle of along the periphery within raised rim.
All within a circle of decorative buds along the periphery with raised rim.
Reverse : The Armorial Ensign of Sri Lanka Army with crossed Kastane swords behind
National emblem above amd banner with
ශ්රී ලංකා යුද්ධ හමුදාව(Sri Lanka Army) in Sinhala only below.
Period Years 1949 - 2009 on either side.
The large numeral denomination 1000 on lower left with
රුපියල් in Sinhala,
ரூபாய் in Thamil
and RUPEES in 3 lines to right of numeral.
The year of issue 2009 centered below, within plain circle.
The anniversary
වජ්ර ජයන්තිය in Sinhala at bottom,
வைர விழா
n Thamil on lower left,
and DIAMOND JUBILEE on lower right.
The country name
ශ්රී ලංකා in Sinhala, centered on top,
இலங்கை in Thamil
on upper left and SRI LANKA on upper right along periphery separated by eight
pointed star on either side, within annulus with raised rim.
The coin was designed by Central Bank artist Mr Kelum Gunasekera.
The Brilliant Uncirculated coin enclosed in a circular transparent
screw tight plastic capsule. Weight in capsule 19.26 grams.
It is embedded in black velvet inside a dark Red
rexine covered 9.2x8.8cm square box with a dot-wave sliver square printed on top.
A white satin sash across the lower left corner in the inside top lid holds a numbered
Certificate of Authenticity with the specifications and description in
Sinhala, English and Tamil. The Certificate of Authenticity is 7.4cm square, much
larger than the older Royal Mint Certificates.
A Plain white cardboard outer protection. A small transparent
Quality Control sticker with QC 7 was pasted below the capsule.
The bright face of the two varieties are almost the same. The silver has a slightly better strike. Other than the weight which requires a good scale, the edge of the coin is the simplest way to identify the coin variety. By comparison you can see the silver is much thicker, but on it's own the Silver BU has a bright silver shine, and the Cupro-Nickel is dull gray. Although thicker, it is technically not a Piedfort which needs to be twice or more times the thickness of normal coin. Although almost proof-like it is a Pity that this off-metal NCLT is not a Proof. This issue was a rush order made after 2009 August, which probably made Proofs too costly.
The coin was
gifted to
President Mahinda Rajapakse in the presence of CDS General Sarath Fonseka
by Mr Ajith Nivard Cabral, the Governor of the CBSL, at Temple Tree,
Colombo on 2009 October 2nd.
Read my article, an edited version of which was published as A sterling silver and cupro-nickel salute to SLA in the Sunday Times of 2009 October 18th.
The commemorative coin was obtained from the Headquarters of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo. It was sold to public at the issue price of Rupees 2200/- or (US $19/-). With slightly more than a Tola of Silver it has a melt value of about Rs650/-
The coin scanned at 600 dpi and the images are displayed at 254 dpi
Also displayed above are scans of Artwork sent to Royal Mint, included in CBSL Press release.