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500 Dollars
| Issuer | Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 1896 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Thomas De La Rue & Company |
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| Obverse description | Executed in red-orange intaglio over a pale green guilloche underprint, the note centres on the bank's armorial vignette — a shield incorporating a sailing vessel — with the denomination numeral $500 repeated in the upper left and upper right corners and Chinese characters disposed vertically along both lateral borders. The issuer's title THE HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION is set in bold letterpress across the centre, below which FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS appears alongside a promise-to-pay clause and the authorisation line By Order of the Board of Directors. Manuscript positions for the Chief Accountant and Chief Manager are reserved at foot, with HONG KONG centred at the base. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS By Order of the Board of Directors Chief Acc. Chief Manager. HONG KONG $500 香港上海滙豐銀行 |
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| Comments |
The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation's 1896 series was printed by De La Rue at a time when the bank was still operating under its original 1865 Royal Charter and functionally serving as an unofficial central bank for Hong Kong — managing exchange rates, discounting bills, and backstopping the colonial currency in a way no government body was equipped to do. A 500-dollar note in this period represented an enormous sum, circulating almost entirely between mercantile houses and trading firms rather than passing through ordinary retail commerce.
P#149 is among the rarest surviving issues from this printer-bank relationship. Attrition was severe — high-denomination notes of this era were typically cancelled and destroyed upon redemption rather than retained, which is precisely why so few intact examples exist today.