China Soviet 3 Ch'uan 1933 Cotton Banknote

I'm curious to know if any of you might have any information or know of great English sources that discuss these elusive, early Chinese soviet banknote issues. Going through the CoinTalk archives, I don't think these particular issues have been presented on this forum before. I recently downloaded a World Paper Money catalog book, but these issues are unfortunately absent in all listings pertaining to China (I may be wrong and am open to correction). The website that had this particular issue for sale mentions that many high-quality forgeries are distinguishable by the color of the cotton used. Counterfeits will display a grayish color to the cloth used. I believe these old banknotes came in a series of three values of 1 chuan, 2 chuan, and 3 chuan. Cotton was initially used as the material for production because paper bills were deemed too fragile for circulation in what would probably have been rougher, undeveloped regions of China where the Soviets operated. This particular piece was issued by the "Szechuan-Shenshi Provincial Soviet Workers & Farmers Bank," the same bank (I could be wrong) that issued the now famous 1934 Chinese soviet dollars that come up for sale in auctions every now and then, like the one shown below.


I'm interested to know if anyone has a idea of the original mintage numbers and survival rate of these cotton banknotes. Is it possible that these issues may have been present among individuals having to endure famous events such as Mao's Long March of 1935. I have read that many notes were destroyed during the Chinese civil war because any Chinese individual caught by the Kuomintang (enemy of the Chinese Soviets) with Soviet currency could face severe punishment, including death. I appreciate anyone who has knowledge to share and look forward to seeing any discussion on this topic. Thank you!

 

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I think the real problem is that as these coins and banknotes were issued when the army was marching around the country - there isn't really any proper record keeping of mintage figures as far as I am aware. Of course, the survival rate is far less as many of these were destroyed along the years.

I don't know much about banknotes but if you do own one - it's definitely collectable (assuming if it's genuine...)

 

One factor that drew people to Mao's forces was that they were paying their soldiers in silver coin whilst Chiang was paying his army in worthless paper money.

Aside from that I know little about the Chinese Soviet currency outside of the birthplace of the movement in Nanchang in the Jiangxi province where they did issue coin and paper money as early as a the nucleus of the movement in 1927.