Catalog
100 Dollars
| Issuer | Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in green and red on white cotton paper, with a portrait vignette of Queen Victoria wearing a crown and jewels at the left. The centre carries a large red guilloche underprint bearing the denomination numeral "100", overlaid with the promise-to-pay text in intaglio. A heraldic lion and shield vignette appears at the upper right, with ornate corner numerals and bilingual Chinese characters reading "壹百員" at the lower left and right. The bank title "THE HONG KONG & SHANGAI BANKING CORPORATION" is set in letterpress across the top, with "HONG KONG" in a panel at the base. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE HONG KONG & SHANGAI BANKING CORPORATION $100 No. Hong Kong, Promises to pay the Bearer on demand at its Office here ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS or the equivalent in the Currency of the Island value received. By Order of the Board of Directors. Chief Manager LONDON HONG KONG 香港上海匯理銀行 壹百員 |
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| Comments |
The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation was one of three note-issuing commercial banks in colonial Hong Kong, a privilege it held under ordinance rather than by central bank mandate. HSBC's right to issue currency was not a formality — it came with strict reserve requirements and made the bank directly responsible for maintaining public confidence in the note supply, particularly during periods of stress like the Japanese occupation and the postwar reconstruction years.
Thomas De La Rue printed the series in London, as they did for much of the HSBC colonial-era output. Pick 146 belongs to a transitional phase in the bank's note design history before the more heavily security-printed issues of the later decades.