Catalog
10 Dollars
| Issuer | Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1883-1886 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 10 INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER SINGAPORE 3rd Jan 1883 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 |
| Reverse description | Blue print on plain paper. The reverse is dominated by a large central guilloche rosette of concentric lathe-work ovals, flanked symmetrically by four smaller circular guilloche medallions, each bearing the numeral "10". A pale red underprint band runs horizontally across the centre. |
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The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was one of the major British exchange banks operating across Asia in the nineteenth century, issuing notes that functioned primarily as instruments of trade finance rather than everyday currency. Its Hong Kong dollar notes circulated alongside those of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Oriental Bank — a crowded field that only the strongest institutions survived.
The Mercantile Bank did not survive intact. Severe losses in the mid-1880s forced a reconstruction in 1893, after which it was refloated as the Mercantile Bank of India. Notes from the 1883–1886 window predate that collapse and are rare partly because the bank's own difficulties disrupted normal record-keeping and redemption procedures.