Catalog
500 Patacas
| Issuer | Banco da China |
|---|---|
| Year | 2003 |
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| Currency | Pataca (1894-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a vignette of the Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge spanning across the right portion of the note against a light green guilloche underprint. The denomination '伍佰圓 / QUINHENTAS PATACAS' is printed in large characters at centre-left, accompanied by the serial number in green at lower right. The issuer's name in both Chinese (中國銀行) and Portuguese (BANCO DA CHINA) appears at the top, with the date 'MACAU, 8 DE DEZEMBRO DE 2003' and the signature of the Director-General of the Macao Branch printed at lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 中國銀行 BANCO DA CHINA 核準第30/2003號行政法規 REGULAMENTO ADMINISTRATIVO No 30/2003 澳門幣 伍佰圓 QUINHENTAS PATACAS 澳門分行總經理 DIRECTOR-GERAL DA SUCURSAL DE MACAU 二零零三年十二月八日 澳門 MACAU, 8 DE DEZEMBRO DE 2003 500 |
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| Comments |
Banco da China entered Macao's currency-issuing arrangement in 1995, becoming the third note-issuing bank alongside Banco Nacional Ultramarino and the newly empowered Monetary Authority of Macao. The 2003 series was issued under the framework established after the 1999 handover to China, when the pataca remained the official currency — a deliberate continuity decision that kept the Hong Kong dollar widely accepted in parallel without formal legal-tender status for it.
The 500 pataca denomination is the highest in the BdC series, which makes surviving uncirculated examples less common than the lower values; high-denomination notes in Macao's cash economy were frequently used for large transactions and returned to banks in worn condition.