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5 Cents - Elizabeth II
| Issuer | Government of Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| Year | 1961-1965 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in green on a light ground, the obverse carries the royal portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in right-facing profile within a vignette at the right, wearing the crown. The centre bears the denomination FIVE CENTS in English and Chinese characters (五分), flanked by guilloche ovals at left and right, with Chinese characters 伍分 repeated in the corners. The legend GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG arches along the top, with 香港政府 in Chinese below it, and the legal tender clause printed in the upper centre field above the denomination. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG 香港政府 THESE NOTES ARE LEGAL TENDER FOR THE PAYMENT OF ANY AMOUNT NOT EXCEEDING TWO DOLLARS FIVE CENTS 五分 5c FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF HONGKONG FINANCIAL SECRETARY |
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| Comments |
Hong Kong's small-denomination paper notes of this period existed largely because the colony's coinage supply was chronically insufficient for low-value transactions — not a unique problem in Southeast Asia at the time, but unusually persistent in Hong Kong given the volume of street-level commerce. De La Rue produced the series in London, shipping finished stock to the Crown colony for issue by the government rather than through the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation or Chartered Bank, which handled the larger denominations.
Notes of this value were hard-used and rarely retained. Surviving examples in any condition are proportionally scarcer than the higher denominations from the same period.