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500 Yuan Bank of China
| Issuer | Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette presents an intaglio portrait of Sun Yat-sen in three-quarter view, set against a fine guilloche underprint in red with the large Chinese characters 伍百圓 (Five Hundred Yuan). The note is framed by an ornate floral and geometric border, with the bank name 中國銀行 (Bank of China) inscribed in large Chinese characters at the top, and two manuscript signatures of the General Manager and Manager appearing at the lower centre. Serial number 068042 appears in red both above and below the portrait. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | BANK OF CHINA 500 FIVE HUNDRED 1941 500 YUAN AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY |
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| Comments |
The Bank of China's 1941 series was produced in the United States because Japanese military advances had made domestic printing impossible — by this point, most of China's coastal printing infrastructure was either occupied or destroyed. American Bank Note Company in New York handled several of these wartime contracts, working from engraved plates to standards that Chinese government printers could no longer meet under occupation conditions.
The 500 Yuan denomination reflects the accelerating inflation that plagued Nationalist-controlled China throughout the war years. Notes of this face value, unthinkable before the late 1930s, had become a practical necessity by 1941 as the fabi currency lost purchasing power against wartime commodity prices.
Wartime shipping meant delivery of printed stock was neither guaranteed nor timely.