Help me identify this old Asian bank note.

March 21, 2004 4:18 PM

Need help identifying the nationality of this Asian bank note, circa 1947. I think I see kanji but I don't recognize the other characters.

I've checked a couple of books and the 'Net with no success. Anyone have a guess as to value, too?

posted by Shane to grab bag (9 comments total)

I'm guessing this is Korean, actually. The characters right beneath the serial number look that way.

With the workers in the spotlight, I'd guess communist issued, too.
posted by weston at 4:24 PM on March 21, 2004

I thought maybe Korean, but I suspected I was being really stupid and that might be Mount Fuji (signifying Japan.) See, this is Uncle George the ol' jarhead's memorabilia, and he was in the Pacific and then China at the end of WWII, then he was in Korea (eventually surviving Chosin) no earlier than, what? --1950? But a '47 bill was probably still in circulation, so there you have it.

Thanks, weston.
posted by Shane at 4:36 PM on March 21, 2004

Scroll down on this page.

It's a long article but I suspect the answer is in there somewhere.
(these are counterfeits, and yours most likely is not, but you get the idea)
posted by milovoo at 4:36 PM on March 21, 2004

North Korean 100 won note (I'm a slow reader : )
posted by milovoo at 4:39 PM on March 21, 2004

Scroll down on this page.

North Korean 100 won note of 1947...

Thanks, milovoo. Yup, N Korean communist note, that, um, you know... explains where he got it, too.
posted by Shane at 4:43 PM on March 21, 2004

Really interesting page, too, milovoo!
posted by Shane at 4:45 PM on March 21, 2004

It's Korean. There's a lot of Chinese on the notes, but the headings inside the cartouches are in hangul. Chinese characters are still used to some extent in written Korean, and in previous decades were heavily used.

There is no way a banknote from China would contain Korean script, but Chinese script anywhere in a Korean written document would be commonplace.
posted by joeclark at 4:50 PM on March 21, 2004

The Chinese characters on the front mean North Korea Central Bank Note.

The Chinese characters on the back mean Hundred Won.

The character for Won (or Yuan in Chinese) is a traditional version - slightly more complex than the simplified version used in mainland China today.
posted by cup at 6:29 PM on March 21, 2004

This and many other North Korean notes, if you're curious about more.
posted by whatzit at 6:31 PM on March 21, 2004