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10 Dollars
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of China, Kiangnan Branch |
|---|---|
| Year | 1905 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Green and black note with a central guilloche oval bearing the denomination 拾圓 (Ten Dollars) in red overprint, flanked by two confronted dragon vignettes in the classical Chinese imperial style. The upper register carries the bank title in Chinese characters across the centre, with serial numbers NO. printed in both upper corners. Vertical column inscriptions appear on the left and right margins, and a horizontal legend runs along the lower border in classical Chinese script. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 裕寶官銀錢局銀元鈔票 拾圓 憑票即付銀幣此為憑據 永通用銀元通用清江揚州上海江清 |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of China was established in 1897 as the first government-chartered bank in China, though it remained partly under foreign-influenced management and never achieved the dominance its founders envisioned. The Kiangnan Branch designation reflects the bank's regional structure — Kiangnan being the lower Yangtze delta region centered on Shanghai and Nanking, then the commercial and industrial heart of the empire.
ABNC handled most of the serious banknote commissions coming out of China in this period, and their work for the Imperial Bank is among the finer examples of the relationship. The plates were engraved in New York and the finished notes shipped to China for issue — a supply chain that made these notes vulnerable to disruption as the Qing dynasty's grip weakened after 1905.
The Imperial Bank was absorbed into the newly formed Bank of China following the 1911 revolution, ending its independent note-issuing function entirely.