Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Yuan
| Issuer | People's Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | A central vignette in brown-purple tones presents a harbour scene with Chinese junks and smaller vessels on calm water, set against a distant shoreline with buildings. The bank title 行銀民人國中 is printed across the top, with the denomination 圓伍 displayed in a decorative panel to the right, and the Republican calendar date 年七十三國民華中 (Year 37 of the Chinese Republic) along the lower margin. Corner rosettes bearing the character 伍 frame the design at each corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in olive-yellow tones and dominated by an intricate guilloche pattern composed of interlocking scrollwork, floral rosettes at each corner, and a central medallion bearing the character 伍. The bank title 行銀民人國中 appears in a panel at the top, flanked by arabesque borders, while the numerals 5 are placed symmetrically at left and right within the guilloche field. The year 1948 is inscribed at the foot of the design within the ornamental framework. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
This is among the earliest notes issued by the People's Bank of China, which was founded on 1 December 1948 — meaning this note and the institution that issued it came into existence almost simultaneously, during the final phase of the civil war against the Nationalists. The First Series Renminbi was not a deliberate currency design program so much as a rapid consolidation of multiple Communist-administered regional currencies that had been circulating across liberated zones, each with its own exchange rate complications.
Printed under wartime conditions with limited standardization, First Series notes show considerable variation in paper quality and print registration across the run.