10 Dollars

Imperial Chinese Railways was established under the Qing government's late-nineteenth-century push to finance rail infrastructure without ceding full control to foreign concessionaires — a balance that proved difficult to maintain. This note predates the better-documented Imperial Bank of China issues and represents one of the earlier attempts to float railway-linked paper currency through a quasi-governmental body.

Harton & Pellegrin is not among the major security printers of the period, and their involvement here is unusual. Very little is documented about this firm's other commissions, which complicates any broader assessment of the printing quality or security features employed.

P#A61 designation places this firmly in the provisional or appendix listings — reflecting genuine uncertainty in the Pick cataloguing about circulation status and issuing authority details.