Catalog
10 Dollars
| Issuer | The Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1895 (1890-1895) |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | $10 INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER SINGAPORE THE CHARTERED BANK OF INDIA, AUSTRALIA & CHINA Promises to pay the Bearer on Demand at its OFFICE here TEN DOLLARS or the equivalent in the Currency of the Island. Value received. BY ORDER OF THE COURT OF DIRECTORS SPECIMEN W. W. SPRAGUE & Co. LONDON Entd. Acct. MANAGER |
| Reverse description | Entirely engraved in green, the reverse is dominated by an ornate guilloche framework with a central lozenge-shaped cartouche bearing the word TEN. The bank title arcs across the centre field, with numeral 10 repeated in all four corners and the word TEN along both lateral margins within elaborate lathe-work borders. |
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| Comments |
The Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China was one of the handful of British overseas banks licensed to issue private banknotes in Hong Kong throughout the nineteenth century, a right that persisted long after such privileges had been extinguished in Britain itself. Notes of this series circulated across the bank's branch network from Bombay to Shanghai, making provenance of individual surviving examples difficult to pin down.
W. W. Sprague & Co. handled the printing — a London firm that worked extensively for colonial and overseas issuers during this period but was eventually absorbed into Waterlow & Sons. The 1890s production run for this denomination is scarce; attrition was high in tropical port environments, and the bank periodically retired worn notes with little ceremony.