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10 dollars Mercantile Bank
| Issuer | Mercantile Bank of India, Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912-1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Dollars (10 HKD) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green, the reverse is organized around an intricate guilloche framework of repeated scrollwork and lathe-work panels, with corner medallions each bearing the denomination numeral "10" and the inscription "DOLLARS". A central oval vignette contains a portrait of a young woman in a feathered hat, facing left. Chinese character panels flanking the vignette repeat the denomination, while the bank name "THE MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA LIMITED" arcs around the central design. |
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| Variants | P#236a - 01.03.1912 2 serial # on front P#236b - 01.01.1930 2 serial # on back P#236c - 01.07.1936 4 serial # on back P#236d - 01.12.1937 4 serial # on back P#236e - 29.11.1941 2 serial # on back |
| Comments |
The Mercantile Bank of India, Limited was a Hong Kong-registered institution with deep roots in the old Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China — it absorbed that bank's operations and name rights after a restructuring in 1893. By the time this note series was issued, the bank was headquartered in Hong Kong and operating branches across India, Ceylon, and Southeast Asia, functioning as a significant exchange bank in the sterling-rupee trade rather than a purely retail institution.
The date span of this series — nearly three decades — meant notes circulated alongside dramatically different political and economic conditions, from the interwar depression through the early years of the Pacific War. The bank was eventually acquired by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1959.