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5 Yuan / Dollars Bank of China
| Issuer | Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1930 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company, New York, United States |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central oval vignette encloses a view of the White Pagoda (Bai Ta) set within its parkland surroundings in Beijing, rendered in fine intaglio. Large Chinese characters for the denomination 伍圓 appear in bold red on either side of the vignette, flanked by intricate guilloche rosette panels. Branch overprint 廈門 (Amoy) appears in the lower left and right margins, with bank title 中國銀行 in a horizontal panel across the top and serial numbers in red at upper left and right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is executed entirely in purple intaglio with dense guilloche latticework forming an oval frame at centre, enclosing the large numeral 5 above the legend FIVE DOLLARS / LOCAL CURRENCY. The bank title BANK OF CHINA appears at the top beneath the promise-to-pay text, with ornate foliate cornerpieces and secondary guilloche panels filling the field. The place and date of issue AMOY / OCTOBER 1930 appear in a cartouche at lower centre, flanked by serial numbers, with the imprint AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY at the foot. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of China's 1930 series was printed by the American Bank Note Company at a time when ABNCo held contracts with several major Chinese institutions simultaneously — a common arrangement that gave Republican-era Chinese currency a remarkably consistent engraving quality regardless of the issuing bank. The bilingual denomination, listing both yuan and dollars, reflects the commercial port environment in which these notes actively circulated, where foreign exchange rates were a daily practical concern rather than an abstraction.
Pick 68 is known in several place-of-payment overprint varieties, and misidentification between them is common. The base plate is shared; only the overprinted text distinguishes issues payable at different branches.