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10 Dollars
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1904 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio on multicolor guilloche underprint; two dragons flanking a central imperial shield vignette at upper center, with denomination cartouches at upper left and right. Confucius standing in traditional robes at lower right, Chinese inscriptions arranged vertically along all margins. Date reads 16 February 1904. |
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| Obverse lettering | 中國通商銀行 拾元 憑票即付上海通用銀元 執此為收 祇認票不認人 大清光緒三十年春正月銖日 |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of China was itself a short-lived institution — established in 1897 under Sheng Xuanhuai as China's first modern state-backed bank, it lost its privileged position after 1911 and was absorbed into successor institutions by 1912. Notes of this series were issued during the bank's most active years, when Shanghai and Hankow branches competed fiercely with foreign-chartered banks for commercial trust they had not yet fully earned.
Bradbury, Wilkinson produced the plates in London to a high engraved standard, which was partly the point — the visual authority of London-printed security paper carried weight with the merchant class that domestic printing could not yet replicate. The A55A designation covers a narrow date range, making this among the earlier high-denomination issues from the series.