5 Dollars HSBC

This series was printed in Britain and shipped to Hong Kong, which created an immediate logistical problem when Japan invaded in December 1941. Notes already in circulation were swept up in the occupation; those still in transit or held in reserve were either destroyed or impounded. Bradbury Wilkinson had supplied HSBC with banknote production for decades, and the relationship continued through the war years via issues intended for territories not yet under Japanese control.

P#173C is one of the last HSBC issues before the colony's fall, and unissued survivors with intact watermarks are notably less common than their circulated counterparts — the opposite of the usual pattern.