Janine writes: Dear Coin Doc: Several years ago I acquired several pieces of currency that I have not been able to get any information on. One is from the Central Bank of China. It is a white bill printed in green ink with some red highlights on the back. There is a picture of a man on the front, it says ten dollars on it and just above the mans picture are small words which say “10 Promises to pay the bearer on demand at this office here 10”. The back has the Chinese symbol for ten in each corner and two large symbols in the middle.
There are dozens of varieties of the Central Bank of China notes. Most of these notes were issued in the 1920’s and feature the portrait of Sun-Yat Sen, the father of the Republic of China. Values run from a dollar or two to hundreds of dollars, depending on the variety and the grade.