HK$50 — Fifty Dollars
The artwork
Front: Purple and mauve, with the bank's name in Chinese above the English "The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation". At left, a royal coat of arms — crowned shield with lion and unicorn supporters, the Garter motto and DIEU ET MON DROIT — resting on a harbour vignette of junks and a square-rigged ship. Centre: the promise to pay the bearer on demand at its Office here, FIFTY DOLLARS, dated HONGKONG 1st JANUARY 1992, signed by the General Manager. At right a plain watermark oval and the denomination in Chinese characters, 伍拾, read downwards.
Back: The bank's own headquarters at 1 Queen's Road Central — Norman Foster's steel-and-glass tower, completed in 1985, drawn straight on with its exposed masts and suspension trusses. Flanking it, the two bronze lions Stephen and Stitt, cast in 1935 and still sitting outside the doors. Upper right, a dragon boat race in mid-stroke; lower corners carry rosettes in soft red and olive.
In circulation
The 1985–92 design, HSBC's first to feature its new Foster headquarters, issued with dates from 1 January 1985 through 1992. From 1993 it was replaced by the redesigned series built around lion heads and the modern hexagon logo, and these purple fifties were steadily withdrawn as they came back through the tills.
Details
- CurrencyDollar (HK$)
- DenominationFifty Dollars
- Collectedon the Hong Kong journey, 1993
- IssuerThe Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
- Series1985–92 issue, dated 1st January 1992
- PrinterThomas De La Rue and Company Limited
- WatermarkLion's head
- SignatureGeneral Manager (single signature)