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50 Customs Gold Units
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1930 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Customs Gold Units (50 關金圓) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Intaglio vignette of the Central Bank of China building in Shanghai, enclosed within a rectangular engraved frame surmounted by the bank's English title. Below the building vignette, the promise-to-pay legend is engraved in a decorative cartouche, followed by a large guilloche panel bearing the numeral "50" in bold block lettering and the denomination "FIFTY CUSTOMS GOLD UNITS" in English. Two manuscript signatures appear at the lower centre above their respective titles, with the place and date of issue at the foot and the printer's imprint below. |
| Reverse lettering | THE CENTRAL BANK OF CHINA PROMISES TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND AT ITS OFFICE HERE FIFTY CUSTOMS GOLD UNITS SHANGHAI, 1930 AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY |
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| Comments |
The Customs Gold Unit was a fiscal invention born from treaty obligations, not monetary policy. China's maritime customs revenue was pledged as collateral against foreign loan obligations, and the CGU was pegged to the gold-denominated customs tariff unit rather than to any circulating metallic standard — meaning this note represents a parallel accounting currency that most ordinary Chinese would never have encountered in daily trade.
ABNC produced the series at a high technical standard, though the 1930 issue predates the full consolidation of Nationalist financial authority by only a few years. By the mid-1930s, the CGU system was effectively absorbed into broader currency reforms.