HK$20 — Twenty Dollars
The artwork
Front: Copper and slate-grey printing, with the bank's name in Chinese characters above the English "The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation". At left, a royal coat of arms with lion and unicorn supporters, the Garter motto and "Dieu et mon droit", ships below. The centre carries the promise to pay and TWENTY DOLLARS in shaded capitals, dated Hongkong 1st January 1991, signed by the General Manager. A plain oval watermark window sits at right, the value repeated in Chinese down the edge.
Back: The two bronze lions from the pavement outside the bank's Hong Kong head office — Stephen roaring, Stitt calm — couched either side of Norman Foster's HSBC Main Building, drawn from below so the suspension trusses and stacked floors fill the panel. In the right-hand roundel, the harbour with the Tsim Sha Tsui clock tower and the Peak behind. Denominations in figures and Chinese characters across the top.
In circulation
The design belongs to HSBC's series introduced in 1985, when the new headquarters building opened; this piece is dated 1 January 1991. It was replaced by the 1993 series, which dropped the royal arms in favour of a lion's head ahead of the 1997 handover, and these earlier notes were withdrawn thereafter.
Details
- CurrencyDollar (HK$)
- DenominationTwenty Dollars
- Collectedon the Hong Kong journey, 1993
- IssuerThe Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
- Series1985–1992 issue, dated 1st January 1991
- PrinterThomas De La Rue and Company Limited
- SignatureGeneral Manager
- SecurityWatermark panel at right; two-letter serial prefix, printed twice in black