Catalog
500 Dollars
| Issuer | Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation |
|---|---|
| Year | 18xx |
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| Printer | Ashby & Co. |
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| Obverse description | Horizontal format note with the corporate arms vignette positioned at top centre, flanked by ornate panels bearing the denomination numeral '$500' at upper left and right. The full issuer title 'THE HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION' is set in bold letterpress across the central register, above a promise-to-pay clause with 'FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS' rendered in large script underprint, with Chinese characters in vertical columns along both lateral borders and the top margin. At the foot, a manuscript authorisation line 'By Order of the Board of Directors' is accompanied by handwritten signatures for the Accountant and Chief Manager, above the printer's imprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 香港上海匯豐銀行 $500 No. HONG KONG 18 THE HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION Promises to pay the Bearer on demand at its Office FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS By Order of the Board of Directors Acct. Chief Manager HONG KONG 五百員 |
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| Comments |
The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation was founded in 1865, and its early note issues were produced in London before local printing infrastructure existed in the colony. Ashby & Co. handled a number of these early colonial bank commissions, working from premises in London's printing trade district. At the $500 denomination, circulation would have been extremely limited — notes of this value moved between merchants and trading houses, rarely passing through more hands than necessary before being presented for redemption.
The "18xx" dating indicates the exact year of issue is unresolved in the literature, a common problem with HSBC's nineteenth-century series where surviving examples are rare enough that specimen-to-circulated comparisons remain incomplete.