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50 000 Customs Gold Units
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of Sun Yat-sen in a circular portrait with guilloche surround, set against a fine rose-purple underprint. Denomination panels reading 伍萬 appear at all four corners, with the bank title 中央銀行 and serial number above the portrait. A rectangular guilloche panel below the portrait bears the denomination inscription 關金伍萬圓, with the date inscription and issuer seals at the base. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central vignette of the Central Bank of China building in Shanghai, a multi-storey neoclassical structure with a prominent clock tower, rendered in fine intaglio engraving within a guilloche border. The bank title THE CENTRAL BANK OF CHINA arches above the building vignette, while the numeral 50000 and the written denomination FIFTY THOUSAND CUSTOMS GOLD UNITS appear below. Two manuscript signatures of bank officials are printed at the lower centre, with the numeral 50000 repeated in each corner. |
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| Comments |
The Customs Gold Unit was introduced in February 1948 as a notional accounting currency tied to gold, intended to stabilize customs revenue collection amid the hyperinflation that had rendered the existing Fapi currency nearly worthless. It lasted only months before the Gold Yuan reform of August 1948 swept it away along with virtually every other Nationalist monetary instrument.
Self-printed by the Central Bank rather than contracted to a foreign security printer — unusual for high-denomination Nationalist issues — which accounts for the comparatively rough production quality found across the CGU series.