Catalog
400 Baht / 400 Ticals HSBC
| Issuer | The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1889 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 400 Bahts |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed uniformly in salmon-red on plain paper, the reverse presents a central rectangular panel of Thai text setting out the full promise-to-pay obligation, enclosed within a simple ruled border. The Thai numeral ๔๐๐ appears in all four corners, and the bank's Thai title runs across the head of the note. The layout is entirely typographic, with no pictorial vignette or guilloche underprint. |
| Reverse lettering | ๔๐๐ ๔๐๐ ฮองกงและเชียงไฮ้แบงกิงกอปอเรชัน สัญญกว่า เมื่อผู้ ใด หนึ่ง } ได้นํฃหนังสือสำคัญฉบับนี้ มายื่นทิ่ห้างข้าทเจ้าในหัวเมืองนี้แล้ว ฃา้ทเจา้จะใช้ เงินให้แก่ผู้นั้นในทันใด เปนเงินสยาม สี่ร้อย บาท โดยบัญท่แห่งผู้บังคัปการนี้ กรุงเทพฯ ๔๐๐ ๔๐๐ |
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| Comments |
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation operated in Bangkok under a royal concession that permitted foreign banks to issue notes denominated in the local tical — an arrangement that would have been unthinkable within a decade, as Siamese financial nationalism gathered force in the 1890s. The 400-tical denomination is unusually high and suggests this note was designed for wholesale trade settlement rather than retail commerce, almost certainly tied to the rice export business that dominated Bangkok's international economy at the time.
Barclay & Fry printed for several colonial and foreign banking clients during this period, working primarily in intaglio. Only a handful of HSBC Bangkok issues from this era are known to survive.