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50 Dollars
| Issuer | The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Hong Kong Dollar (1863-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in brown and green, centred on a classical female bust in intaglio within an oval vignette, flanked to the left by the bank's heraldic shield and a sailing junk vignette, and to the right by a mountainous landscape vignette with guilloché surrounds. The denomination '50' appears in large numerals at each corner, with Chinese characters 伍拾圓 repeated in the side panels. The text 'Promises to pay the Bearer FIFTY DOLLARS or the equivalent in the Currency of the Colony, Value received' is inscribed across the lower portion, with the date 'HONGKONG, 1st January, 1921' and the line 'By Order of the BOARD OF DIRECTORS'. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in green and brown, with a central intaglio vignette of the HSBC's imposing neoclassical head office building in Hong Kong, set against palm trees and a busy street scene. The composition is enclosed within elaborate guilloché scrollwork and rosette patterns, with the denomination '50' and the word 'FIFTY' displayed in ornate panels at the left and right margins. Chinese characters 伍拾圓 appear in the side panels, and the bank's name arcs around the upper portion of the central design. |
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| Comments |
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation's 1921 issues predate the formal standardization of the bank's note designs that came later in the decade. At this point HSBC was still one of three note-issuing banks in Hong Kong — alongside the Chartered Bank and the Mercantile Bank — and the $50 denomination would have seen relatively limited day-to-day circulation given the purchasing power involved. Significant commercial and trade transactions between Hong Kong and Shanghai were the primary driver for notes of this value.
P#168 is scarce in any grade. The cotton substrate used across this period is prone to the splitting at fold intersections that typically afflicts heavily circulated high-denomination notes, and most surviving examples show evidence of prior mounting or repair.