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5 Yuan Kwangtung Provincial Bank
| Issuer | Kwangtung Provincial Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1949 |
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| Currency | Yuan (1914-1949) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 廣東省銀行 大洋票 伍圓 中華民國三十八年 中華書局股份有限公司 |
| Reverse description | Central vignette of a large traditional Chinese pavilion building — identified as the Memorial Hall in Canton — set within an elaborate guilloche border. The English bank title THE KWANGTUNG PROVINCIAL BANK arches across the top, while FIVE YUAN appears in decorative cartouches on both left and right sides, each flanked by numerals 5 at the corners. Two manuscript signatures appear below the central vignette, with the year 1949 in a scrollwork panel at centre bottom and the printer's imprint CHUNG HWA BOOK CO., LTD. at the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The Kwangtung Provincial Bank's 1949 issues came at the worst possible moment for any provincial institution trying to maintain credibility. The Nationalist government's currency had already collapsed under hyperinflation, and provincial banks across southern China were scrambling to issue their own notes in a last attempt to maintain local commercial function as Communist forces moved south. Kwangtung's geographic position made it one of the final holdouts.
Chung Hwa Book Co. in Shanghai was one of the most capable commercial printers in China at the time, handling both banknote and securities work — though by mid-1949, Shanghai itself had fallen to the PLA, raising genuine questions about when exactly this note was printed and whether the full order was ever delivered.