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1 Dollar Imperial Chinese Railways
| Issuer | Imperial Chinese Railways |
|---|---|
| Year | 1899 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1898-1911) |
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| Obverse description | Printed in blue on cream paper, the obverse centres on an intaglio vignette of a steam locomotive hauling passenger carriages through a landscape with the Great Wall of China and a fortified gate tower in the background, a flagpole bearing the Imperial Chinese dragon flag at centre. The title IMPERIAL CHINESE RAILWAYS appears on a ribbon banner above the vignette, with guilloche rosettes carrying the numeral 1 at each corner of the note. A script promise-to-pay text with authorisation by order of the Directors, dated January 2nd 1899, is placed below the vignette, with the serial number at lower left and the denomination ONE DOLLAR repeated in the outer border on all four sides. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | IMPERIAL CHINESE RAILWAYS Promise to pay on demand at any of its Offices One Dollar or its equivalent in local currency. By Order of the Directors. January 2nd 1899 |
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| Comments |
Imperial Chinese Railways was not a bank but a state infrastructure authority, and its decision to issue bearer notes denominated in dollars rather than taels was a deliberate concession to the merchant communities financing track construction in the treaty ports. The dollar denomination made these instruments legible to foreign contractors and Chinese compradors alike.
Barclay & Fry were primarily a label and packaging printer who moved into security printing — a less prestigious pedigree than contemporaries like Bradbury Wilkinson or De La Rue, though their intaglio work on this series is competent. P#A59 is among the earlier dated railway-issued notes from China and predates the more formalized government bond and note programs that followed the Boxer Indemnity settlements.