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5 Yuan / Dollars Bank of China
| Issuer | Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central oval vignette of the Peking pagoda (Beihai White Pagoda) set within an elaborate guilloche frame, flanked on left and right by large Chinese numerals 伍圓 against a fine lathe-work underprint in red and green. Four floral rosette ornaments occupy the corners. Branch name 建福 (Fukien) appears at lower left and right. Two signature panels at bottom centre carry printed labels GOVERNOR and MANAGER. Serial numbers in red are printed at upper left and right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Predominantly purple intaglio-printed design centred on a large guilloche oval bearing the denomination FIVE DOLLARS / LOCAL CURRENCY in bold lettering, flanked by numeral 5 panels at left and right within further guilloche work. The heading BANK OF CHINA appears at top, with the promise text below it. Branch name FUKIEN is printed in large capitals at centre bottom, with serial numbers in red at lower left and right, date SEPTEMBER 1918 beneath, and the imprint AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY at the foot. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of China was reorganized under that name in 1912 from the old Qing dynasty's Ta-Ching Government Bank, and by 1918 it was operating as the principal government bank of the Republic of China. The American Bank Note Company had been supplying Chinese bank currency since the late Qing period, and this note belongs to a series produced in New York for circulation across multiple branch locations — the specific place of payment was printed on each note individually, meaning the same basic plate served Peking, Shanghai, Harbin, and a dozen other cities simultaneously.
In 1916, a moratorium crisis had severely damaged public confidence in paper notes issued by both the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications; the 1918 series was part of a deliberate effort to restore credibility through high-quality foreign printing. ABNC's intaglio work was expensive precisely because it signaled institutional seriousness to a skeptical note-holding public.