Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
100 Yuan Central Bank of China
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Yuan |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Portrait of Sun Yat-sen in an oval vignette at left, facing slightly right, set against a fine guilloche underprint across the note field. The large denomination characters 壹百圓 occupy the centre-right, flanked by red seal chops. Serial number in red appears at upper right, with issue date inscription at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is composed entirely of intricate guilloche lathe-work forming a symmetrical geometric border and central panel. The denomination 壹百圓 is printed in large characters at centre, with the numeral 100 repeated at left and right within the guilloche frame. Signature inscriptions in Chinese characters appear at lower left and lower right. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
By 1945, the Central Bank of China was printing money faster than the economy could absorb it. This 100 Yuan note entered circulation during the final phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War, when wartime expenditure had already set China on a hyperinflationary trajectory that would accelerate catastrophically after Japan's surrender. The printing burden fell increasingly on domestic facilities — Shanghai among them — as overseas printing arrangements became logistically impossible.
The series of which P#278 is part was rendered nearly worthless within months of issue. By 1947, denominations in the hundreds had become inadequate for daily transactions, and by 1948 the entire fabi currency system was abandoned in favor of the gold yuan — itself a failure within a year.