Central Back Of China

$1.63 US face value, don't have a clue what numismatic value it has though - (if my conversion was correct.)

The "face value" conversion is not correct, because the old Republic yuan suffered severe hyperinflation once the Republic lost the civil war to the Communists and had to retreat to Taiwan. These notes are no longer legal tender in either Taiwan nor mainland China. They have collector value only.

As to grade, I'd give it a net grade of Fine. The surfaces are nice and clean, but there's a very heavy centre fold, plus a silverfish or something has nibbled away at the top.

I'm afraid my banknote catalogue dates from the 1980s so I can't give you a current market value, but I'd be surprised if it were more than a dollar or two.

It should be noted that the date on banknotes does not always reflect the date the specific note was issued or even when the type was first issued.

The best example would be the Bank of Communications 1914 series. I'm not certain that these were issued from 1914 at all, and if you have any of the earliest issues (which are not the examples with script signatures on the face), you are very fortunate indeed. The most commonly encountered examples were issued from the early 1930s until around 1940.

The signatures on the Central Bank note in question are the earliest however the note carries the second, more common serial font type, so assumedly the note was issued slightly later than 1936.

The banknote was issued by the Central Bank of China in 1936, although like others have said it was probably printed sometime after. Your banknote was printed by Waterlow & Sons in London, and has the pick designation of 218a. I would grade it at VF-20, but it has many heavy creases and appear to be missing some of the paper at the top right corner of the obverse.