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500 Yuan Central Bank of China
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
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| Value | 500 Yuan |
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| Obverse description | Portrait of Sun Yat-sen at left, rendered in intaglio, set against an intricate guilloche underprint in red. The central vignette bears the denomination 伍百圓 (Five Hundred Yuan) within an elaborate oval guilloche frame, flanked by acanthus leaf ornaments at the lower corners. Two serial numbers appear in the upper left and upper right, with the bank title 中央銀行 on a ribbon scroll at top centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 中央銀行 伍百圓 華中國民三十三年印 (Translation: Central Bank of China / Five Hundred Yuan / Printed in the 33rd year of the Republic of China) |
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| Comments |
By 1944, the Central Bank of China's notes were being produced in London while the country they were intended for was deep into eight years of war with Japan. Thomas De La Rue printed this 500 Yuan under contract, part of a series of high-denomination issues that reflected runaway wartime inflation rather than any expansion of genuine purchasing power — by the time notes of this value reached circulation, their real worth had already collapsed significantly against prewar benchmarks.
Pick 264 belongs to a period when the Nationalist government's monetary system was deteriorating faster than new denominations could be introduced. The 500 Yuan ceiling would be breached almost immediately by still higher values.