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 Bank of Communications
| Issuer | Bank of Communications |
|---|---|
| Year | 1935 |
| 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 | Central vignette of Chinese sailing junks at sea, rendered in fine intaglio engraving against a lightly clouded sky. Flanking the vignette are two large lobed guilloche rosettes, the left bearing an intricate lathe-work underprint and the right carrying the denomination 伍圓 in Chinese characters. The bank title 交通銀行 appears in a rectangular panel at the top center, with the denomination numeral 伍 repeated in all four corners within decorative cartouches. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central scenic vignette within an elaborate acanthus scroll cartouche portraying the Summer Palace (Yi He Yuan) in Beijing, with the Tower of Buddhist Incense on Longevity Hill rising above a colonnaded lakeside gallery and the Long Corridor along the shore of Kunming Lake. A large guilloche rosette occupies the left panel carrying the numeral 5, while a second lathe-work rosette fills the right panel. The bank name arches across the top in Roman capitals, with the denomination and issuing authority inscribed below the central vignette and the printer's imprint at the foot. |
| 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 |
The Bank of Communications was one of China's two principal government banks in the Republican period, and by 1935 it was operating under increasing pressure from the Nationalist government's push to consolidate financial control. The note predates by mere months the landmark currency reform of November 1935, when the fabi system replaced silver-backed currency — notes already in circulation from this series were simply absorbed into the new regime without reissue.
De La Rue's involvement guaranteed a level of security printing unavailable domestically at the time. The Shanghai forgery networks were sophisticated enough that foreign-printed issues were specifically preferred by the issuing banks for higher denominations.