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5 Dollars Kwangtung Provincial Bank
| Issuer | Kwangtung Provincial Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1931 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Central intaglio vignette of Dr. Sun Yat-sen within an oval guilloche frame, flanked by elaborate scrollwork and Chinese denomination characters 伍圓 to either side. The bank title 廣東省銀行 appears in a dark panel at the top, with red serial numbers in the upper left and right. The inscription LOCAL CURRENCY is printed across the lower centre within a cartouche, beneath which the date in the Republican calendar and issuing authority text appear. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | THE KWANGTUNG PROVINCIAL BANK PROMISES TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND AT ITS OFFICE HERE 5 FIVE DOLLARS 5 NATIONAL CURRENCY 1931 AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY. |
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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.