5 Dollars

The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation was incorporated under a special Hong Kong ordinance in 1865 — just two years before this note was issued — making this among the earliest paper currency the bank ever put into circulation. Ashby & Company in London handled the printing, which was typical for colonial banking institutions at the time: design and production contracted out to British trade printers, then shipped east for issue.

At this date HSBC had no formal charter from Westminster; it operated under local colonial authority, a legal arrangement that would remain unresolved for decades. Notes from this 1867 series are extraordinarily rare in any condition — institutional records suggest very few have survived outside of specialist collections and major auction houses.