Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Million Dollars - Hell Bank Note
| Issuer | The Hell Bank Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1993 |
| Type | Vouchers |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE HELL BANK CORPORATION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE G3 MT-200888 FW C23 SERIES 1993 Treasurer of the Unitde States. Secretary of the Treasury. 美金 100萬 ONE MILLION DOLLARS |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | THE HELL BANK NOTE 天地銀行有限公司 MT-200888 100萬 ONE HUNDRED |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Hell bank notes are ceremonial joss paper burned as offerings in Chinese, Vietnamese, and other East Asian funeral traditions, with the intention that the smoke carries wealth to deceased ancestors in the afterlife. The practice has pre-modern roots but the heavily dollar-influenced designs — complete with fictitious issuing authorities and the "Bank of Hell" or "Hell Bank Corporation" branding — emerged largely in the twentieth century as a conscious visual parody of Western currency, particularly U.S. Federal Reserve notes.
The signatory names "Yan Loon" and "Yu Wong" are a standing joke embedded in the design: roughly translating as "King of Hell" and "Jade Emperor," the two supreme figures of the underworld in Chinese folk religion.