Catalog
5 Dollars The Canton Municipal Bank
| Issuer | Canton Municipal Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 22 (1933) |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green-tinted note with an ornate guilloche border. The city emblem of Canton is centred at the top, below which a vignette of the Five-Story Pagoda (Zhenhai Tower) in Canton is displayed. Denomination numerals and Chinese characters appear in multiple registers, with the issuing authority inscribed in Chinese across the upper field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 5 THE CANTON MUNICIPAL BANK 5 PROMISES TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND AT ITS OFFICE HERE FIVE DOLLARS LOCAL CURRENCY CANTON 5 1ST MAY, 1933 5 WATERLOW & SONS LIMITED, LONDON. |
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| Comments |
The Canton Municipal Bank was a short-lived institution operating under the Nationalist municipal government of Guangzhou (Canton), issuing notes in the early 1930s at a moment when regional and municipal banks across China were proliferating rapidly — often competing directly with central government currency. Waterlow & Sons handled the printing, as they did for a substantial portion of Chinese provincial and municipal paper during this period, their London facility producing notes for clients who wanted security printing of a quality domestic Chinese printers could not yet reliably match.
The bank's operational lifespan was brief, and redemption was uncertain even while it functioned. Notes of this series are genuinely scarce in any condition.