Catalog
100 Dollars
| Issuer | Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Orange intaglio print on white paper with blue guilloche underprint. A crowned coat of arms vignette is centred at top, flanked by two ornate $100 denomination panels; multilingual inscriptions in Chinese, Jawi, and Tamil border the note on left and right margins. The bank title and promise-to-pay text appear in bold letterpress across the centre field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | $100 SINGAPORE THE HONGKONG & SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION Promise to pay the Bearer on demand at its office here ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS Local Currency for Value received. By Order of the Board of Directors Accountant Manager |
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| Comments |
HSBC's early Hong Kong dollar notes were printed in London by Metchim & Son, a firm better known for legal and official stationery than for banknote production — an unusual choice at a time when specialist security printers dominated the field. The bank was still relatively young, having been founded in 1865, and its note-issuing operation in the 1880s was expanding rapidly to meet trade financing demands across the treaty port network.
Survivors from this 1881 issue are exceptionally rare. High-denomination notes of this period circulated primarily among merchant houses and were frequently remitted, cancelled, and destroyed rather than retained.