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100 Dollars
| Issuer | Mercantile Bank Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1958-1960 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in brown and olive tones, the obverse carries an elaborate guilloche border with ornamental corner panels bearing Chinese characters, framing a central intaglio vignette of a panoramic Hong Kong harbour scene with colonial-era waterfront buildings and hills set between classical columns. The bank title 'MERCANTILE BANK LIMITED' arcs across the top, with the denomination '100' placed in each corner and the date line appearing below the central vignette. Two serial number fields occupy the upper register, with bilingual legends in English and Chinese script completing the design. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Watermark incorporating the bank's name or a geometric pattern, visible when the note is held to light, consistent with Waterlow & Sons printing practice of the period. |
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| Comments |
Mercantile Bank Limited was a British overseas bank with roots in the old Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China — by the late 1950s it operated primarily across Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, issuing notes under colonial banking arrangements that were already running out of time. This $100 note falls within the final years of that issuing authority; the bank was acquired by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1959, and note-issuing privileges for institutions of this type were progressively curtailed through the early 1960s.
Waterlow & Sons had a long track record with colonial and overseas bank commissions before their merger into De La Rue in 1961, making this among the last notes they produced before that absorption.