Catalog
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| Issuer | Hell Bank (冥通銀行) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 冥通銀行 壹佰萬 艾森豪威 Eisenhower |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 1000000 HELL BANK NOTE 1000000 1000000 地府通用鈔票 1000000 1000000 |
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| Comments |
Hell Bank notes are Chinese-American funerary paper, burned as offerings so the deceased can spend the money in the afterlife. This particular piece — denominated at one million and bearing Eisenhower's image — belongs to a wave of novelty "hell money" that began appearing in overseas Chinese communities and American Chinatowns from roughly the 1960s onward, blending traditional joss paper customs with Western iconographic shorthand for wealth and prestige.
The "冥通銀行" imprint translates loosely as Bank of Hades. Not a financial institution in any sense — the name exists purely to signal ritual legitimacy.