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10 Taels
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1898 |
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| Printer | Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company |
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| Obverse description | Printed in red on cream paper with an ornate guilloche border. Two dragons flank a central roundel at upper center, with Chinese inscriptions giving the denomination of ten taels (拾兩) at center. Date given as the 24th year of Guangxu, 1st month (大清光緒二十四年正月), Shanghai branch (中國上海通商銀行). |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 中國通商銀行鈔票永遠通用 大清光緒二十四年正月吉日 中國上海通商銀行 銀祇認票不認人 拾兩 |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of China was itself only chartered in 1897, making this note among the earliest the institution ever produced. Bradbury, Wilkinson engraved and printed the series in London, a common arrangement for Chinese banking institutions of the period that lacked domestic security printing infrastructure capable of meeting anti-counterfeiting standards.
The tael denomination is worth noting: the tael was a weight-based monetary unit, not a coin, and its actual silver value varied considerably by region — Shanghai taels, Haikwan taels, and Peking taels were not interchangeable. A banknote denominated in taels therefore carried an implicit ambiguity about exactly what it promised to pay, and where.