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5 Dollars
| Issuer | Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1893 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green-tinted note with the bank's name in bold letterpress across the centre: 'THE HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION.' A central vignette displays the corporation's heraldic shield flanked by decorative guilloche panels bearing the denomination '$5' in green numerals at upper left and right. Chinese characters reading 香港上海滙豐銀行 run along the top margin, with 伍圓 at both lateral edges. The serial number, date '1st September 1893,' and place of issue 'HONG KONG' are printed in two positions, above a manuscript promise-to-pay text and the authorising legend 'By Order of the Board of Directors' followed by two manuscript signatures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | THE HONG KONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION. 5 5 |
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| Comments |
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation's 1890s note issues were produced at a time when the bank was functioning as the dominant quasi-central bank across treaty-port China and the Straits Settlements, with its notes circulating far beyond any formal legal tender zone. This 1893 5-dollar note predates the bank's adoption of security printing contracts with major British specialist firms — production was handled locally in Hong Kong, an arrangement unusual for a note of this value and one that creates meaningful variation in plate quality across surviving examples.
The series is notably prone to foxing and humidity damage, a direct consequence of Hong Kong's climate acting on the cotton substrate over decades of circulation.