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10 Dollars
| Issuer | The Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1895 (1890-1895) |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Blue intaglio print on white paper with a green underprint of the denomination TEN DOLLARS across the centre. The Royal coat of arms appears as a vignette at upper centre, flanked by $10 numerals, with Chinese and Tamil script borders running along all four margins. The bank name and promise-to-pay text are rendered in letterpress below the arms. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 10 TEN THE CHARTERED BANK OF INDIA AUSTRALIA AND CHINA |
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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.