Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
500 Dollars
| Issuer | The Chartered Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1957 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 渣打銀行 THE CHARTERED BANK Promises to pay the Bearer on Demand at its Singapore here FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS 伍佰圓 HONG KONG, 1st September, 1957 BY ORDER OF THE COURT OF DIRECTORS 500 |
| Reverse description | Printed in olive-green tones, the reverse carries a central vignette of a Chinese junk under sail on Hong Kong harbour waters, with the city skyline visible in the background. Four circular medallions with decorative motifs run along the top margin above the harbour scene. An oval watermark space occupies the left field, framed by elaborate lathe-work scrollwork, while the denomination 500 appears in numerals at each corner. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China issued this denomination primarily for interbank settlement and large commercial transactions — retail circulation of a $500 note was never the intent. By 1957 the bank was operating under increasing political pressure from newly independent governments across Asia, and its days as a note-issuing authority in most territories were already numbered.
Bradbury, Wilkinson produced some of the most technically refined colonial and commercial bank notes of the postwar period, and their work for The Chartered Bank is no exception. The single watermark security feature reflects the era's standard for high-denomination commercial issues rather than any particular vulnerability in this series.
Pick #67 is genuinely scarce at this denomination.