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100 Yuan Central Bank of China
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 152 x 76 mm |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 行銀央中 圓百壹 印年三十三國民華中 (Translation: The Central Bank of China One Hundred Yuan Printed in the 33rd year of the Republic of China) |
| Reverse description | Intricate guilloche lathe-work fills the entire field in reddish-brown, centred on the English denomination legend ONE HUNDRED YUAN within an elaborate rosette. Two large circular guilloche medallions flank the central vignette at left and right. The bank title THE CENTRAL BANK OF CHINA arches across the top, the year 1944 appears in a cartouche at lower centre, and the printer's imprint THOMAS DE LA RUE & COMPANY, LIMITED, LONDON is inscribed at the bottom margin below the signature panels. |
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| Comments |
By 1944, the Central Bank of China's currency was in serious trouble. Wartime inflation driven by Japanese occupation, Nationalist government deficit financing, and the near-total disruption of the Chinese economy had begun the spiral that would render hundred-yuan denominations essentially transactional pocket change within a few years. That De La Rue in London was still producing notes for the Chungking government at this stage reflects both the Nationalist reliance on foreign printing infrastructure and the difficulty of securing adequate domestic press capacity under wartime conditions.
The P#256 series is relatively common in collector holdings, suggesting substantial print runs reached circulation before the postwar hyperinflationary collapse made the entire denomination obsolete.