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500 000 HELL BANK NOTE
| Issuer | Bank of Hades (冥都銀行) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1989 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of the Jade Emperor enthroned beneath a canopy, flanked by courtly immortal figures in polychrome print. Guilloche-style rosettes in green at lower left and right carry the denomination 500000. Border in green with decorative scrollwork; Chinese inscription 冥都銀行 at top and 通用冥幣 below the central scene. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 冥都銀行 TS 1989 500000 通用冥幣 HELL BANK NOTE |
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| Comments |
Hell bank notes are a form of joss paper — ritual currency burned as offerings to the deceased, rooted in Chinese folk religion and ancestor veneration practices. The "Bank of Hades" imprint is a convention, not a real institution; the denomination is deliberately astronomical because the afterlife, in this theology, is expensive. The 1989 date on this example likely reflects the production year of a specific print run rather than any issuing authority decision — manufacturers updated dates sporadically.
These are collected primarily as ephemera and social history objects. Paper quality varies enormously by manufacturer and batch.