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50 000 000 - Hell Bank Note
| Issuer | Míng Dū Bank (冥都銀行) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Currency | Hell Bank Note (1800s-date) |
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| Obverse description | Multicolour vignette with pine trees and a rocky outcrop at left, two decorative birds in flight at centre, and an imperial portrait at right. A serial number appears at top centre, with the denomination in numerals at bottom left. The overall design evokes traditional Chinese landscape and court imagery. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in light green with the denomination in numerals at upper left. The left vignette presents a pair of deer amid cherry blossom branches, while the right vignette shows a temple structure framed by pine trees, evoking classical Chinese landscape motifs. |
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| Comments |
Hell Bank Notes are not currency in any monetary sense — they are votive offerings burned at Chinese funerals and ancestral ceremonies so the deceased can spend the money in the afterlife. The Míng Dū Bank (冥都 literally means "underworld capital") exists purely as a ritual fiction, giving the notes a superficial legitimacy that mirrors real banknotes closely enough to satisfy the symbolic requirement.
Hong Kong became the dominant production center for these items, exported worldwide to diaspora communities. Collectors pick them up as curios, but their catalog value is negligible — production runs are large and they were never scarce by design.