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100 Customs Gold Units
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1930 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Customs Gold Units (100 關金圓) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The upper half presents an intaglio vignette of the Central Bank of China's Shanghai office building, a multi-storey neoclassical structure with a prominent clock tower, enclosed within an ornamental frame surmounted by the bank's English title. Below, a large guilloche medallion carries the numeral 100 superimposed over the legend ONE HUNDRED CUSTOMS GOLD UNITS. Two manuscript signatures appear at the lower centre — one for General Manager and one for Assistant General Manager — with SHANGHAI, 1930 and the AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY imprint at the foot. |
| Reverse lettering | THE CENTRAL BANK OF CHINA PROMISES TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND AT ITS OFFICE HERE 100 ONE HUNDRED CUSTOMS GOLD UNITS GENERAL MANAGER ASST. GENERAL MANAGER SHANGHAI, 1930 AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY |
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| Comments |
The Customs Gold Unit was not a general-circulation currency. It was created specifically to collect import and export duties, which Republican China had pledged as security for foreign loan obligations — the tariff revenues being legally ring-fenced from ordinary government spending. The CGU was pegged nominally to gold but in practice functioned as a fiscal accounting instrument as much as a banknote.
ABNC produced the series under the same production standards used for its Latin American sovereign clients. The 1930 date places this squarely in the window before the 1933 Silver Purchase pressures began destabilizing Chinese monetary arrangements entirely.