1858 HK$25 banknote may be auctioned for HK$750,000
By Agencies |
Highlights
HONG KONG: An 1858 Hong Kong banknote with a face value of $25 may fetch HK$750,000 ($96,074) at a Hong Kong sale of Chinese paper currency tomorrow, said auctioneer Spink.
The unissued $25 banknote by Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London & China may be the only one in private hands, according to Spink. The black & white note with allegorical symbols of the British colonial empire is one of about 600 items expected to fetch up to a combined HK$6 million, said Barnaby Faull, a Spink director. Chartered Mercantile changed its name to Mercantile Bank in 1892 and was bought by HSBC Group in 1959.
���There may be considerable interest from Hong Kong bidders,��� said Otto Lam, a banknote collector who wrote a doctoral thesis on Western banking in 19th-century China. ���Chinese collectors aren���t very interested in Hong Kong notes.��� Chinese buyers prefer first editions of the renminbi, or yuan, banknotes issued by the government of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and by local private banks in the post-Qing and pre-Communist era, Lam said.
Banknotes by foreign banks are less popular due to their association with Western countries��� economic subjugation of China in the late-Qing period, according to Lam, 47. The Qing government ceded Hong Kong to Britain in 1842 after it lost the First Opium War. Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
Other highlights at Spink���s Hong Kong auction include an 1890 $100 red-and-blue Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking note, worth as much as HK$450,000 according to Spink, rare for the absence of a printed chief manager signature; and an 1884 $25 note estimated at HK$280,000.
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���The atmosphere is very conducive for auctions because the stock market is very high at the moment,��� said Mr Faull, 53. Art-auction houses Christie���s International and Sotheby���s set records at their most-recent Hong Kong sales of paintings, ceramics and other collectibles, helped by wealthy Chinese collectors willing to buy art for enjoyment and as investments. Hong Kong���s benchmark Hang Seng Index has gained 11% in the past year. The auction record for Chinese currency was set in 2003 by China Guardian Auctions, a Beijing-based auctioneer headed by Wang Yannan, daughter of former Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang, which sold a complete collection of Chinese banknotes archived by the American Banknote Company for 3.2 million yuan ($411,787).
The auction record for a Hong Kong banknote was set by Spink a decade ago when a HK$1 HSBC note, bearing serial number 1, was sold for HK$850,000, according to Mr Faull. ���Prices of Chinese banknotes will rise faster than Hong Kong banknotes because of mainland Chinese demand,��� Mr Lam said.
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