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100 Dollars
| Issuer | The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1904 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in red and cream tones, with Chinese characters reading 香港上海滙豐銀行 arranged vertically at the top alongside the English bank title in a bold serif banner. A central vignette presents the bank's heraldic arms — a shield with a lion and globe flanked by a sailing vessel — set against a fine guilloche sunburst underprint. The denomination ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS is lettered in a prominent intaglio band, with the place and date of issue, HONG KONG and 1ST MAY 1904, flanking the central device, while the lower margin carries signature lines for CHIEF ACCT. and CHIEF MANAGER above the HONG KONG imprint. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | THE HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION 100 壹百圓 百 |
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| Comments |
The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation's right to issue currency in Hong Kong dated back to its founding ordinance of 1866, making it one of the few private banks in the world with a continuous and legally protected note-issuing privilege stretching across colonial and post-colonial governance. By 1904, HSBC notes circulated alongside those of the Chartered Bank and, briefly, the Government itself, in a system that had no central bank to coordinate or backstop issuance.
P#159 is a scarce early survivor from a period when large-denomination HSBC notes were actively used in interbank settlement and trade finance rather than retail commerce. High-value notes of this era were frequently cancelled and destroyed once their purpose was served, which accounts for the near-total absence of circulated examples today.