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5 Yuan Bank of Communications
| Issuer | Bank of Communications |
|---|---|
| Year | 1927 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 160 × 85 mm |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a steam locomotive facing forward at a railway station, framed within an arched guilloche border. The denomination 伍圓 (Five Yuan) appears in large Chinese characters on either side of the vignette, with the bank name 交通銀行 inscribed at the top in Chinese. Corner lozenges carry repeated value numerals, and the branch overprint 山東 (Shantung) appears at left and right margins. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in purple-brown on a green and pink guilloche underprint, with an elaborate central rosette cartouche bearing the large numeral 5 and the legend FIVE YUAN NATIONAL CURRENCY. The bank title BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS runs along the top border, with a promise-to-pay scroll inscription in the upper centre. The branch designation SHANTUNG appears at the lower centre, flanked by the printed facsimile signatures of the President and Manager, with the date NOVEMBER 1ST, 1927 and the imprint AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY at the foot. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Communications was one of the two principal government banks in Republican China, theoretically responsible for managing railways and industrial credit. By 1927, however, the political situation had fractured badly enough that branches in different cities were issuing notes with varying degrees of backing, and public confidence in BOC paper was uneven at best. The American Bank Note Company had been supplying intaglio-printed sheets to Chinese institutions since the late Qing period, and this series reflects that long-standing relationship.
Pick 146 is known to exist with different regional overprints, which significantly affects collectibility — a plain example and an overprinted provincial one are effectively different instruments despite sharing the same base plate.