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5 Dollars Kwangtung Provincial Bank
| Issuer | Kwangtung Provincial Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1931 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 廣東省銀行 伍圓 作銀臺券用 中華民國二十年 LOCAL CURRENCY |
| Reverse description | Central vignette of a traditional Chinese pavilion building rendered in fine intaglio line work, set within an ornate guilloche border. The bank title THE KWANGTUNG PROVINCIAL BANK is lettered across the top, with the promise text PROMISES TO PAY THE BEARER and ON DEMAND AT ITS OFFICE HERE flanking the vignette. The denomination inscription FIVE DOLLARS / NATIONAL CURRENCY / 1931 appears across the bottom, with the printer's imprint AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY below. |
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| Comments |
The Kwangtung Provincial Bank was established in 1905 under Qing authority and survived the Republic's successive monetary upheavals largely by staying close to Guangdong's trade economy rather than the central government's fiscal disasters. By 1931, Canton was still functioning as a semi-autonomous financial zone — the Nationalist government in Nanjing had limited control over Guangdong's banking apparatus, and provincial notes like this one circulated on local confidence rather than national backing.
ABNC's involvement here reflects a pattern of southern Chinese provincial banks contracting American engravers rather than the British firms favored in the north. The plates were produced entirely in New York and the finished notes shipped to Canton for issue.