50 Dollars

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation turned to Barclay & Fry — a firm later absorbed into De La Rue — for this late-Victorian series, a common arrangement for British colonial banking issues of the period. HSBC had been printing notes through London contractors since its founding in 1865, and this series continued that practice through the final years of the century.

The $50 denomination was serious money in 1890s Hong Kong — well beyond the daily wage of most residents — meaning these circulated almost exclusively in commercial and inter-bank transactions. Low-denomination attrition kept these largely out of common hands, which paradoxically means survivors often show less wear than the smaller values.