10 000 Yuan Central Bank of China

By 1947, the Central Bank of China was printing in denominations that would have been unimaginable five years earlier. Hyperinflation driven by wartime military expenditure and post-war reconstruction costs was accelerating so rapidly that the 10,000 Yuan note — a sum that once represented serious wealth — was already losing purchasing power faster than it could circulate. The Nationalist government's monetary situation was deteriorating beyond any technical remedy.

The Security Banknote Company of Philadelphia handled a significant volume of Chinese Nationalist currency during this period, one of several American and foreign firms drawn into the Republic of China's printing contracts when domestic capacity proved insufficient. Pick 319 falls within a series that was ultimately rendered worthless by the Communist victory in 1949 and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan.