Catalog
5 Dollars
| Issuer | Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1894 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in red, the reverse centres on a large circular coat of arms vignette surrounded by elaborate guilloche scrollwork, with denomination numeral 5 repeated at left and right within ornate cartouches. The bank's name arcs around the central vignette in two lines. |
| Reverse lettering | 5 THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION |
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| Comments |
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was printing its own notes long before any colonial authority formally regulated the practice — HSBC's right of issue in Hong Kong derived from its founding ordinance of 1866, making it one of the few private banks in the region with a legally entrenched note-issuing privilege. By 1894, the bank's circulation spanned branches across Asia, and a single note might physically pass through Shanghai, Yokohama, or Singapore before redemption.
Metchim & Son were a relatively minor London printing house, not one of the dominant security printers of the period — their appearance here rather than Perkins Bacon or De La Rue is worth noting, though the reason for the contract is not documented in the public record.