Catalog
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| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1931 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Yuan (1912-1948) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 中央銀行 貳角 每拾角兌付壹圓國幣 中華書局有限公司 (Translation: Central Bank of China / Two Jiao / Every 10 Jiao exchanges for 1 Yuan national currency / Chung Hwa Book Co., Ltd.) |
| Reverse description | The reverse is executed entirely in blue-violet and composed of elaborate guilloche lathe-work throughout. A large numeral 20 occupies the centre within a multi-layered rosette underprint, flanked by secondary numerals 20 at each side and by two large circular guilloche rosettes at the outer edges. The bank name THE CENTRAL BANK OF CHINA arcs across the top in a curved ribbon panel, and TWENTY CENTS appears in a cartouche at the lower centre, with two facsimile signatures below — one for the General Manager and one for the Assistant General Manager — and the printer's imprint at the foot. |
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| Comments |
The Central Bank of China's 1931 small-denomination issues were printed domestically by Chung Hwa Book Co., a Shanghai firm better known for textbooks and commercial printing that had moved aggressively into banknote work during the Nationalist period. The quality of Chung Hwa's intaglio work was competent but noticeably below what De La Rue or American Bank Note Company was producing for Chinese issuers at the same time.
By 1935, the fabi currency reform effectively superseded these fractional notes, and much of the remaining stock was withdrawn rather than worn out through circulation — which makes genuinely circulated examples more characteristic of the issue than uncirculated ones.