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5 Yuan Bank of Communications
| Issuer | Bank of Communications |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 152 × 77 mm |
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| Obverse description | Central oval vignette of a steamer ship at sea, with a small rowboat in the foreground, set within ornate scrollwork borders. Flanking the vignette on each side are large guilloche rosettes bearing the Chinese denomination characters 伍圓. The bank name 交通銀行 is inscribed in large Chinese characters across the upper portion, with the date inscription 中華民國三十年印 centred at the base below the vignette. Red official seals appear at lower left and right, and large 伍 characters occupy each corner. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central design dominated by a large guilloche medallion enclosing the numeral 5, framed within an architectural arch motif with fine lathe-work underprint. Two flanking guilloche rosettes at left and right each bear the inscription FIVE YUAN. The bank name BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS appears in bold lettering across a dark panel at the top, with the year 1941 set into a decorative cartouche at the base of the central arch. Two facsimile signatures appear below the central medallion, one at each side. Numeral 5 appears in each corner. A pink and brown guilloche underprint bearing repeated bank name and denomination text fills the background. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Communications had been operating under increasingly fractured conditions by 1941 — its Shanghai operations were functioning within Japanese-occupied territory, while nominally remaining a Chinese Nationalist institution. Notes from this period were produced by The Commercial Press, Ltd., one of China's most prominent publishing and printing houses, pressed into currency work as specialist security printers became unavailable or inaccessible due to the war.
Wartime inflation was already eroding purchasing power sharply; a 5 Yuan note of this vintage would have lost meaningful value within months of issue.