50 Dollars Asiatic Banking Corporation

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.