Catalog
5 Yen in Gold
| Issuer | Bank of Taiwan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Yen |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents a central vignette of the Kaohsiung lighthouse set within an ornate border, with the English bank title 'The Bank of Taiwan, Limited' inscribed across the top. Denomination values appear in all four corners and flanking the central design in both Arabic and Chinese numerals. The promise-to-pay legend and the legal authorization clause citing the Bank of Taiwan Law (Meiji 30, Law No. 38) are inscribed in English and Japanese across the lower portion of the note. |
| Reverse lettering | 5 The Bank of Taiwan, Limited 五 5 五 Promises to Pay the Bearer on Demand FIVE YEN in Gold. 五 5 明治三十年三月法律第三十八號臺灣銀行法二據蕟行スルモ也 |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Taiwan was established in 1899 as a colonial financial institution under Japanese rule, tasked with managing currency across Taiwan and, eventually, extending Japanese financial influence into southern China and Southeast Asia. This 5 Yen gold note belongs to the earliest issues of that bank's paper series, before the gold convertibility clauses became effectively meaningless in practice — the Taisho-era monetary system nominally maintained gold backing long after actual redemption had become a bureaucratic fiction.
The "in Gold" designation is the detail worth pausing on. It survived on the face of Bank of Taiwan notes well into the period when the gold standard had been suspended, a legal formality retained to maintain confidence in a colonial currency whose authority rested entirely on Tokyo's backing.