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1 000 000 000 Hell Bank Note
| Issuer | Mingdu Yinhang (冥都銀行) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Vouchers |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 冥都銀行 阿彌 佛陀 拾億圓 1000000000 MINGFU ZHBi MINGDUYINHANG 地府通用 |
| Reverse description | Pale pink and blue bicolour reverse centred on a large circular seal with concentric rings of Chinese characters surrounding a square-holed coin motif, evoking a traditional cash coin. Symmetrical dragon scroll vignettes flank the seal at left and right. Chinese characters 無 and 邊 appear at upper-left and lower-left corners respectively. |
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| Comments |
Hell bank notes are ritual paper currency burned as offerings in Chinese funerary and ancestor veneration practices, rooted in the belief that incinerated goods transmigrate to the deceased in the afterlife. The issuing authority printed here — Mingdu Yinhang, roughly "Underworld Capital Bank" — is a fictional institution, a convention of the genre. The denomination arms race in these notes mirrors real-world hyperinflation aesthetics: figures climbed from thousands to billions as manufacturers competed to signal generosity to the dead.
No monetary authority, no Pick number, no redemption date. Collectible purely as an artifact of folk religion and commercial print culture.