Chinese Paper Money Vignettes

Great site. Thanks for sharing it. Now I'm off to look up some of my many notes from China!

 

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Alright, I've obviously become obsessive/compulsive about this. I found another related item that I just *had* to scan. This is a panel from the 1991 portfolio of the American Bank Note Archive Series. This relates to a couple earlier threads, specifically this one: http://www.cointalk.com/t163799/ but you also see many other panels here: http://www.cointalk.com/t87667/

The nice thing about this series is it that each panel comes with a detailed information sheet, with background on each vignette. The top vignette is one I posted earlier -- it's entitled "Chinese Water Carrier" and was engraved in 1916.

The central vignette is called "Pagoda Scene--Reception Hall of the Barean of Finance" (sic). It appears on the back of the 1922 $50 note of the Provincial Bank of Kwangtung Province. (Anyone have this note?)

The vignette of the two junks is titled "HongKong Harbor." It was engraved in 1915 and appears on the back of three 1935 fractional notes, also from the Provincial Bank of Kwangtung Province.

"HongKong Cargo" shows another junk, not yet at sail; it was engraved in 1916.

Last we have "Dragons," engraved in 1915. It appears on a stock or bond, I believe, from the Ningpo Commercial Bank of Shanghai. It may also appear on paper money.

 

I like it

 

For those who may not have seen notes with this vignette before, the above "10 cents" and "20 cents" bank notes were issued in 1935 by "The Kwangtung Provincial Bank".

The images were found at this website.

Gary

 

He is the legendary Emperor Huangti (Huang Di), better known as the "Yellow Emperor", who ruled China 2697 BC - 2597 BC.

The reference was found at this website.

Gary

 

I discovered two more vignettes in an obscure source -- a 1973 convention booklet from the International Plate Printer and Die Stampers Union. (You can learn more about these in a recent post here: http://www.cointalk.com/t94663-31/#post1255043).

"Country View" was posted previously, but this one is printed in brown ink. The other "Village Scene in Loochow" is new to me and I haven't seen this one on any paper money. Maybe someone can identify its usage.

 

Great thread, love the vinegettes and info to go with them. Just had a couple visitors from China at the plant today and will be going back early next year. Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing!

 

One more! I just discovered this when I was paging through my copy of "The Story of the American Bank Note Company." I'm not sure if this was used on any currency -- maybe someone can enlighten us?

 

Finally found a usage on one of my earlier posts. This canal vignette appears on the reverse of a 1925, 50 Yuan from The Frontier Bank (P-S2574). I was only able to find an image of a specimen, so I don't know what the front looks like.

 

According to the description of a similar specimen (issue for Fengtian (Shenyang)) on a Chinese website, the note is printed on one side only. For the note on this website, the only thing on the other side was some "corrosion".

As best I can determine from some quick research, only specimens exist of this note.

Incidentally, the Chinese refer to the side you have displayed as the "obverse" side.

Gary

 

That'll teach me! Never make assumptions when you can't read the language.

 

I found another usage example of one of the vignettes posted here earlier, so I'm taking the opportunity to give this thread a bump. This $5 note (not in my collection) is from the Bank of Territorial Development, issued in 1916.

 

I finally picked up the last Chinese New Year issue in the Commemorative Panel series -- this one's from 2001. It includes two vignettes by American Bank Note. I found a usage for the one entitled "Worthy" on a 1920 $5 Commercial Bank of China note and a number of others from that bank. The engraving is a mirror image, but otherwise it's the same. I did a pretty thorough search but could not find the temple or pagoda vignette on any Chinese note.

 

My dad brought this one back from a tour in Asia, circa WWII. Don't know anything about it...not dated.

 

The Farmers Bank of China

10 Yuan note, Printed by Thomas De La Rue, London

The date which this note was printed appears in Chinese characters (read from right to left), found on the center, bottom of the note on the side depicting farmers at work. Printed (印) in Year 24 (年24) of the Republic of China (中華民國), and is about 1934/5 in the western calendar. [ROC calendar dating]

The Bank of China webpage has English pages with a lot of examples of their currency through various periods. As you can imagine, there is a depth of history there due to a lot of social change over the years that have impacted everything, including, various iterations of the currency.

I don't collect Chinese notes, but I especially find those printed by Western countries using their engraving techniques and aesthetics, interesting to read about.
Here's another neat site that talks about a lot of the imagery on older Chinese notes.

 

The image of the "Worthy" on the banknote is the correct orientation.

The image on the Commemorative Panel sheet must have been flipped for aesthetic reasons. Whoever designed the sheet probably did not notice that there is an inscription on the ruyi sceptre that the "Worthy" is holding.

On the banknote the inscription can be read as zhao cai jin bao (招财进宝) which means "Money and treasures will be plentiful".

On the Commemorative Panel sheet, each Chinese character is flipped left-to-right and makes no sense.

This is a ten yuan ($10) banknote issued 1912 by the Bank of China.

The image can be seen at this website.

Gary

 

Just to add to the information krispy has provided, the vignette shows the Zhao Mausoleum, located near Shenyang, which is the tomb of the Qing emperor Huang Taiji (also known as Abahai) who ruled during the years 1626-1643.

More information on the tomb can be found here.

Gary

 

I was going through some specimen notes online and found another tie-in to one of the vignettes I posted earlier on this thread. Seems like a good time for a bump. This is a 20 cent note from the Provincial Bank of Kwang Tung Province.

 

I just happened to see the note above is included in the latest Archives International Auction (Sale 40).

I also notice that lot 188 is a group of 5 of the same panels from the 1991 ABN Archive Series -- see post 22 above. That means someone broke up five of these portfolios just to get the China panels. Kind of a shame for anyone trying to obtain the full set.

 

Excellent catch!

Unless these (lot 188) were extra copies not released from the sets sold, then I suppose that knowing how many sets are incomplete, helps us to know how many fewer total complete sets per year of issue (may yet) remain complete. The more that get chopped up, damaged over time or have their plates separated can only help those complete sets retain a healthy value going forward.