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25 Dollars
| Issuer | Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865 |
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| Value | 25 Dollars |
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| Obverse description | Executed in Victorian letterpress style, the obverse carries the denomination "$25" within ornate oval guilloche panels at the upper-left and upper-right corners, flanking a central vignette of the corporate coat of arms of The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Company, Limited, surrounded by elaborate geometric border work. Chinese characters reading "香港上海滙理銀行" run horizontally across the top, with additional vertical Chinese text in the side margins. The promise-to-pay legend in English, including the words "TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS," is set in italic script across the lower central field, above the authorisation line "By Order of the Board of Directors." |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 香港上海滙理銀行 $25 HONG KONG THE HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANKING COMPANY, LIMITED Promises to pay the Bearer on demand at this Office here TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS or the equivalent in the Currency of the Island, value received. By Order of the Board of Directors. Acc.t Manager 港 香 HONG KONG 港 香 |
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| Comments |
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was incorporated by special ordinance in August 1864 and opened its doors in March 1865 — making this 25 Dollar note among the very earliest issues the bank ever produced. The denomination itself is unusual; HSBC's 19th-century Hong Kong issues were not a tidy decimal series, and 25 Dollars occupied an awkward middle position that was eventually abandoned as trade patterns and customer habits made other denominations more practical.
Surviving examples from this 1865 printing are extremely rare. The combination of Hong Kong's humid climate, the disruptions of subsequent decades, and routine bank destruction of returned notes has made early HSBC paper among the most elusive colonial-era issues from the region.