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100 000 - Hell Bank Note
| Issuer | Heaven and Hell Bank (天堂地府銀行) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1983 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100000 Hell Bank Notes |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 天堂地府銀行 A 2528 9 拾萬 天堂地府一律通用 |
| Reverse description | Printed in black on white paper, the reverse is framed by a fine engine-turned guilloche border with ornamental corner pieces. The centre is occupied by a detailed architectural vignette of a traditional multi-tiered Chinese palatial temple with sweeping rooflines, approached by a grand stairway. The title HELL BANK NOTE is inscribed at the top, flanked on each side by the series identifier E 1983; the denomination numeral 100000 appears in each corner. A line of traditional Chinese characters below the vignette repeats the universal acceptance inscription, and a Buddhist invocation in Chinese script appears at the foot. |
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| Comments |
Hell money occupies a genuinely odd corner of notaphily — not legal tender, not propaganda, not a fantasy note in any conventional sense, but a liturgical object manufactured for burning at Chinese funerary rites, ensuring the deceased has spendable wealth in the afterlife. The practice draws on centuries of joss paper tradition; printed bank-note format versions became commercially widespread in the twentieth century.
The "Heaven and Hell Bank" imprint is a Western-market standardization of the genre — the Chinese text resolves to something closer to "Heaven and Earth Treasury." Collectors should note these were produced in vast quantities with no concern for serial uniqueness.