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50 Yuan Bank of Communications
| Issuer | Bank of Communications |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Brown intaglio print on a multicolour guilloche underprint. A central vignette, framed by ornate scrollwork, presents two steam trains traversing a mountain pass, rendered in fine line engraving. The denomination 伍拾圓 appears in large Chinese characters in the left and right panels, with the bank name 交通銀行 across the top and the Republic year inscription along the lower border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS FIFTY YUAN 1941 AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Communications was technically a government-chartered institution, but by 1941 it was operating under conditions of extreme monetary stress — Japanese forces controlled much of eastern China, and the Nationalist government had relocated to Chongqing. Notes of this period were printed abroad precisely because domestic printing capacity was either occupied or unreliable, and American Banknote Corporation's New York facilities had long served Chinese issuers with high-quality intaglio work.
Wartime inflation hit Bank of Communications issues hard. By 1945, the purchasing power of notes like this had collapsed so severely that denominations once considered substantial were effectively worthless in daily transactions.