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500 Yuan Bank of Central China
| Issuer | Bank of Central China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Yuan (1946-1949) |
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| Obverse description | Blue letterpress print on light ground. A large central vignette shows the Great Wall of China stretching across mountainous terrain, rendered in fine line engraving. The bank title 華中銀行 appears at the top centre in large Chinese characters, with the denomination 伍佰圓 displayed in stylised cartouches at the corners and centre-left; a red serial number and two red rectangular chop marks appear within the design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Brown letterpress print. The centre is occupied by an elaborate guilloche rosette flanked by symmetrical scroll ornaments, with the numeral 500 in bold figures at the centre and repeated in smaller form within panels at left and right. A single horizontal rule border frames the entire design, and the year date 1948 is printed in numerals at the bottom centre. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Central China (中州农民银行 / Zhongzhou Nongmin Yinhang, later reorganized) operated as a Communist Party financial instrument during the civil war period, issuing notes in the liberated zones of central China before the People's Bank absorbed most regional issuers in 1948–49. High-denomination notes like this 500 Yuan reflect the inflationary pressure of that period — the Nationalist government's runaway currency collapse forced competing monetary systems to issue larger and larger face values simply to remain functional for everyday transactions.
Pick S3405 is a scarce issue, and surviving examples in collectible condition are genuinely uncommon given the chaos of the transition period.