Catalog
50 Dollars Asiatic Banking Corporation
| Issuer | Asiatic Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
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| Currency | Dollar (1845-1939) |
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| Obverse description | Printed in violet and black on white paper, the note bears the bank's circular arms vignette at centre, flanked by two oval cartouches each inscribed FIFTY DOLLARS. Multilingual value inscriptions appear in the margins in Chinese, Tamil, Arabic, and Malay script, with the large numeral 50 at lower left and right. The promise-to-pay text occupies the central panel, with SINGAPORE and the partial date at lower centre, and the signature lines for Accountant and Manager at bottom. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ASIATIC BANKING CORPORATION FIFTY DOLLARS FIFTY DOLLARS THE ASIATIC BANKING CORPORATION promise to pay the Bearer on Demand at their Branch in SINGAPORE in Local Currency the Sum of FIFTY DOLLARS Value received SINGAPORE By order of the Court of Directors 大銀伍拾圓 亞西亞國銀行 |
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| Comments |
The Asiatic Banking Corporation was a British overseas bank with a short and troubled existence — incorporated in London in 1863 and in liquidation by 1866, a casualty of the post-1864 credit contraction that killed several Eastern exchange banks simultaneously. A note dated 1862 therefore predates the formal incorporation, suggesting it was issued under a provisional or pre-charter arrangement, which was not unheard of among Victorian-era colonial banking ventures operating ahead of their official paperwork.
The $50 denomination points squarely at the China coast or Straits trade, where dollar-denominated instruments circulated alongside sterling bills. Very few examples of this series survive in any condition.