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1 Yuan Bank of China
| Issuer | Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1935 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Waterlow & Sons Limited, United Kingdom (1810-1961) |
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| Obverse description | Dark brown on green, purple, and orange underprint with red serial numbers. The central vignette presents the Temple of Heaven rendered in detailed intaglio engraving. Chinese characters and denomination inscriptions frame the design, with guilloche patterning in the underprint providing visual security. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Blue on green, purple, and orange underprint with red serial numbers. The central vignette portrays a Chinese junk under sail, a classic motif of Bank of China issues of this period, executed in fine intaglio. The bilingual obligation text and issuing authority inscriptions appear within a structured border of guilloche work. |
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| Comments |
Bank of China's 1935 series was printed by Waterlow & Sons in London at a moment when the Nationalist government was pushing hard to consolidate banking authority and sideline older provincial note-issuing networks. The 1 Yuan denomination circulated widely enough that heavily worn examples are far more common than clean ones — urban commerce ground through low-denomination notes quickly in 1930s China.
Within months of issue, the November 1935 fabi currency reform forced a wholesale conversion from silver-backed to managed currency. These notes were absorbed into the new system rather than withdrawn, giving them a second circulation life under considerably changed monetary rules.