Catalog
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| Issuer | Bank of Communications |
|---|---|
| Year | 1935 |
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| Size | 150 × 62 mm |
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| 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 | 交通銀行 伍 伍圓 中華民國幣 伍元 中華民國二十四年印 縮樣鋼印刻公司 |
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| 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.