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5 Dollars Mercantile Bank
| Issuer | Mercantile Bank of India Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912-1941 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a pagoda, houses, and junks rendered in intaglio within an oval frame. The bank title 'The Mercantile Bank of India Limited' is set across the upper portion, with the denomination 'Five' inscribed below the vignette. Chinese characters appear in the left and right vertical panels, and the promise-to-pay text is printed in letterpress across the face. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central portrait vignette of Mercury, the classical deity associated with commerce, rendered in intaglio and set within an elaborate guilloche border. The bank title 'The Mercantile Bank of India Limited' arcs around the central design, with the denomination 'Five Dollars' and Chinese characters repeated in the corner panels. |
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| Comments |
The Mercantile Bank of India Limited was a Hong Kong-registered institution with roots in the older Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China, which itself had been absorbed and restructured by the early twentieth century. By the 1910s the bank was operating across Southeast Asia and China, issuing currency in several denominations under various colonial and treaty-port arrangements that permitted private bank note circulation well into the mid-twentieth century.
The long issue window — nearly three decades — means specimens and dated examples within this Pick number can vary considerably in signatory combinations, a detail that matters more than the face value when assessing relative scarcity.