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1 Dollar
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1898 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Dated 22 January 1898 (Guangxu year 24), printed in red on cream paper. Two confronted dragons support a central roundel at upper centre, flanked by vertical Chinese text panels. The denomination 壹圓 (One Dollar) is set within a guilloche underprint at centre, with the Shanghai branch designation at right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Variants | P#A51a - Issued note P#A51r - Remainder, perforated: CANCELLED |
| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of China was the country's first modern bank with a formal charter — established by imperial edict in 1897 under the supervision of Sheng Xuanhuai, who had already built China's telegraph and railway infrastructure. It was conceived as a state-backed institution capable of issuing national currency, though in practice its notes circulated unevenly and faced fierce competition from well-entrenched foreign banks operating under treaty-port protections.
Bradbury, Wilkinson produced the plates in London at a moment when the bank's domestic credibility was still being established. The series was short-lived; the 1911 revolution effectively ended the institution's relevance, and surviving 1898 notes are genuinely uncommon, particularly in the lower denominations.