Catalog
100 Dollars Kwangtung Provincial Bank
| Issuer | Kwangtung Provincial Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | A central vignette shows the campus of the National Higher Normal University in Guangzhou, framed by intricate guilloche borders. The bank name in Chinese characters is inscribed at the top, with the denomination repeated in Chinese at left, right, and corners. Inscriptions record the date as the 7th year of the Republic of China and state that the note is redeemable for silver dollars. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The bank name "THE PROVINCIAL BANK OF KWANG TUNG PROVINCE" appears in bold lettering across the top, above an elaborate symmetrical guilloche design with three large interlocking rosettes. The denomination "100" is rendered in large numerals at center and within the flanking rosettes, with "ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS" in full across the lower panel; the printer's imprint of the American Bank Note Company, New York, appears at the bottom margin. |
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| Comments |
The Kwangtung Provincial Bank was established in 1905 as part of the Qing dynasty's late push to modernize provincial finance, and it survived the 1911 revolution largely intact, continuing to issue notes under the new Republican administration in Guangdong. By 1918 the province was operating as a semi-autonomous power base, and high-denomination notes like this one functioned more as instruments of institutional credit than everyday currency.
ABNC printed the full Kwangtung provincial series from New York — a common arrangement for Chinese provincial banks of the period, who prized American engraving for its perceived resistance to local counterfeiting. The 100-dollar face value made this among the largest circulating denominations in the series.