Catalog
5 Fen / Cents
| Issuer | Bank of Taiwan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1949 |
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| Currency | New dollar (1949-date) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 行銀灣台 分伍 角壹兌分拾每 印年八卅國民華中 厰北台厰製印央中 (Translation: Taiwan Bank 5 Fen 10 Fen = 1 Jiao Printed in the thirty-eighth year of the Chinese Republic Central Engraving and Printing, Taipei) |
| Reverse description | Brown intaglio print on cream paper in vertical format; the central vignette presents a cartographic outline of Taiwan island with the large numeral "5" superimposed over it, set against a pale guilloche underprint of the bank building. "BANK OF TAIWAN" appears at the top, "FIVE CENTS" in a panel at the foot, and the date "1949" below; corner numerals "5" repeat at all four angles within a decorative scrollwork border. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Taiwan's 1949 low-denomination issues were emergency stopgaps, printed locally in Taipei immediately after the new Taiwan Dollar was introduced in June 1949 to replace the collapsed Old Taiwan Dollar at a rate of 40,000 to one. The Central Engraving and Printing Factory had only recently been established on the island, and these tiny notes were among its earliest productions — the limited press capacity of a facility still finding its footing shows in the relatively simple execution.
The Nationalist retreat to Taiwan that year created acute demand for small change that coin production could not quickly satisfy.