Catalog
500 Dollars
| Issuer | Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Dollars |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress and intaglio print on plain paper. The Royal coat of arms vignette is centred at the top, flanked by two oval guilloche panels bearing the denomination numeral "500". A multilingual border carries inscriptions in Chinese, Arabic, Jawi, and Tamil scripts. The lower portion bears the promise-to-pay text in bold mixed typefaces, with "SPECIMEN" overprint at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 500 INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER SINGAPORE THE CHARTERED MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA, LONDON & CHINA Promises to pay the Bearer on Demand at its Branch in SINGAPORE, in Local Currency, FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS, Value received. By order of the Court of Directors SPECIMEN 大銀伍佰員 சாடர் லாண்டின்தமிலபேரு அதுதார்லிங்கிஞ்ஞாரு |
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| Comments |
The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was one of the exchange banks operating under Royal Charter, primarily financing the opium, cotton, and tea trades moving through Hong Kong and the treaty ports. A $500 denomination was not a retail instrument — notes at this face value moved between merchants, compradors, and the bank's own branches as a wholesale settlement tool.
Perkins, Bacon had long specialized in security printing for colonial and overseas institutions, and their intaglio work on high-denomination exchange bank notes from this period is technically accomplished. Very few examples from this issuer and year survive in any condition; the bank was absorbed into the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China in 1893, and most outstanding paper was retired.