50 Dollars

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation began issuing its own notes almost immediately after its 1865 founding — one of the few private banks in the region with the standing to do so credibly. This 1877 fifty-dollar note predates any formal colonial currency ordinance governing private bank issues, meaning HSBC's notes circulated on institutional trust alone, backed by the bank's balance sheet rather than any statutory guarantee.

Pick 125 is among the earliest dated issues in the series and survivors are exceptionally rare. The cotton substrate was sourced and printed locally in Hong Kong, which was unusual for high-value colonial bank paper of this period — most comparable issues from the region were sent to London or Edinburgh for printing.