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50 Dollars H.S.B.C.
| Issuer | The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1927-1934 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Dollars (50 HKD) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Printed in green on a light underprint, the obverse carries a classical allegorical female figure — a harvest vignette — to the left, rendered in fine intaglio engraving, shown bearing a cornucopia of fruit and flowers. The bank's coat of arms is engraved centrally at the top, flanked by Chinese characters reading the bank's name, with the denomination expressed in both English and Chinese numerals along the vertical borders. A large oval guilloche panel at the right serves as the signature and date cartouche, with the promise-to-pay text, denomination in bold letterpress, and two manuscript signatures of the Chief Accountant and Chief Manager printed centrally. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | THE HONGKONG & SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION 50 DOLLARS BRADBURY, WILKINSON, & CO. LTD. NEW MALDEN, SURREY, ENGLAND. |
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| Comments |
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the HSBC note series through this period using their characteristic intaglio work, and P#164 is among the more durable issues of the interwar Hong Kong dollar — a currency that had to navigate the colony's partial de-linkage from silver during the early 1930s as global silver prices collapsed. Hong Kong did not formally abandon the silver standard until 1935, meaning notes issued in this window were still nominally tied to a metal whose value was actively destroying the monetary systems of silver-dependent economies across Asia.
The New Malden plant handled security printing for numerous colonial issuers simultaneously, which occasionally introduced minor plate wear into later impressions of long-running series like this one.