...Hong Kong, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited - 2016 Prints Set Of Four Notes

 中華人民共和國香港特別行政區

(Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China)

 

渣打銀行(香港)有限公司

(Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited)

Currency - Dollar (HKD)

 

This is the last issue for the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) series of 2010. Since the series was first introduced in 2010, reprints were issued in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016. Unlike those previously released, the denomination of 500 dollars was not printed for these 2016 reprints.

 

There are no changes to the designs for these 2016 reprints. 

 

Unlike those issued by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Bank of China, the designs on this series on the front for the Standard Chartered Bank are not all the same. Each note depicts a different mythical animal on the left side of the note. Chinese mythical animals are important as for centuries, they have formed part of Chinese culture and religion. The most powerful animal, in my opinion, is the dragon as it is believed that it has the power to control the wind and the rain and is superior to all the other animals. In the old China before becoming a republic, only the emperor was allowed to have the dragon embossed on his cloth. Any other person caught having the dragon on their cloth will never live to see another day.

 

The mythical animal designs have been appearing on the banknotes of SCB since the 1979 series. Each of these mythical animals has a special meaning in Chinese culture. Since I am not an expert in this field, I will not comment further here in case I got it wrong.

The themes on the back are Heritage and Technology. The designs on each note depicts an historical Chinese invention and then matches with a modern technology equivalent, like the abacus and the binary code. To many people, the abacus is referred to as the world's first computer (calculator).

According to the latest report, banknotes issued by the SCB have the lowest circulation rates in Hong Kong. Out of the three issuing commercial banks, SCB has the circulation rate of 10.4%, followed by Bank of China (31.7%) and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (57.9%). By the look of it, there should be less SCB's banknotes in the market and I wonder, in terms of collectible's value, if they are a better future investment than those issued by the other two banks. Right now, they all seem to be selling at the same price as others for the similar year issued. 

 

Chief Financial Officer - Jamie Ling Fou Tsong (tenure 2013-2017)

Chief Executive Officer - May Tan Siew-Boi (tenure 2014-2017).

These are the only four notes issued bearing the signature of its Chief Executive May Tan Siew Boi.

 

Dimensions

$20 - 144.5mm x 72mm;

$50 - 149.5mm x 74mm;

$100 - 154mm x 76.5mm; and

$1000 - 164mm x 82mm.

 

Twenty Dollars

Dated 2016, mythical fish (carp)

Reverse - five rods Chinese abacus (Syun Pun/Suan Pan) and binary code

 

$20 - mythical fish (carp) / five rods Chinese abacus (Suan Pan) and binary code. The words Suan Pan literally means counting tray. Suan Pan comes in all sizes and the most common ones have 13 rods. Would you call this 5 rods Suan Pan a pocket size calculator? Suan Pan can be traced back to 770-476BC;

 

 Fifty Dollars

Dated 2016, mythical tortoise

Reverse - Chinese combination lock and vault

 

$50 - mythical tortoise / Chinese combination lock and vault. I am not sure when the Chinese combination lock was first invented but it is a lock that is more unique to those made with rotating numbered dice. For a start, if you do not read Chinese then it is quite hard to crack the combination as the positions on these dice have to be in a precise position before the lock can open. Even you know the combination, sometimes you have to jiggle it into position before the lock can be opened;

 

One Hundred Dollars

Dated 2016, mythical horse

Reverse - Sung (dynasty) script seal and printed circuit

 

$100 - mythical horse / Sung script seal and printed circuit. The Sung dynasty came to power in 960 and ended in 1279. The Sung dynasty was also the first to introduce paper money nationally in China. A Chinese seal is just like a signature. They were used on official or important documents, including modern banknotes issued in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and even in Singapore too. The seal is usually comes in a square shape;

 

Five Hundred Dollars - None issued with the year date of 2016, or so far none has been sighted.

 

One Thousand Dollars

Dated 2016, Chinese Emperor dragon

Reverse - Tang Dynasty coin and smart chip

$1000 - Chinese dragon / Tang Dynasty coin and smart chip. The Chinese cash coin was first introduced in the fourth century even before the Tang dynasty came to power (618-907AD). It is believed that the square hole in the middle of the coin was purposely made so that one can carry multiple coins by putting a string through the holes for ease of handling. The Chinese dragon is an emperor's dragon as it has five claws instead of the normal four. Only the Chinese Emperor is allowed to have this design and not others. The dragon is the most powerful mythical animal and that is why it is printed on the largest denomination of banknote.

 

.Footnote👀

I am not an expert in Chinese mythical animals nor do I know much about Chinese history. If you are confused with what I have written above, don't worry as I am just confused myself too 🤣.