Catalog
10 Dollars
| Issuer | Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Blue letterpress and intaglio print on white paper. Central vignette shows Britannia seated with a lion, flanked by denomination numerals "10" in oval cartouches at left and right, with a multilingual border incorporating Chinese, Arabic, and Tamil script. Printer's imprint appears at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 10 DOLLARS SINGAPORE 18__ THE CHARTERED MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA, LONDON & CHINA Promises to pay the Bearer on Demand at its Branch in SINGAPORE in Local Currency, the sum of TEN DOLLARS, Value received. BY ORDER OF THE COURT OF DIRECTORS Ent.d Acc.t |
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| Comments |
The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China received its royal charter in 1853, making it one of the early exchange banks operating across the Eastern trade routes. By 1860 it was issuing notes across multiple ports — Hong Kong, Shanghai, Calcutta — and the physical notes were printed in London by Barclay & Fry well in advance of local demand, shipped out, and signed and dated at the branch upon issue.
Surviving examples from this period are genuinely rare. The bank's Eastern branches saw heavy transactional use, and paper deteriorated quickly in humid port climates. The 1860s issues predate the bank's later consolidation into what eventually became the Mercantile Bank of India in 1893.