I have a 1954 50-cent note and I don’t know how much it’s worth?

The current price of the second set of RMB exceeds 60,000 yuan, and the rarest 10-yuan coupon is close to 50,000 yuan. The full set of 14 banknotes has a face value of only 27.88 yuan, and has appreciated more than 2,000 times in the 50 years since its issuance.

The second set of RMB was adopted in order to adapt to the situation when the Chinese People's Liberation War won nationwide, the People's Government embarked on economic recovery and construction, the financial and economic conditions gradually improved, and financial prices stabilized. It was issued on March 1, 1955 due to the domestic and international economic situation. The ratio of the second set of RMB to the first set of RMB is 1:10,000. There are main and auxiliary currencies, including 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 1 jiao, 2 jiao, 5 jiao, 1 yuan, 2 yuan, and 3 yuan. There are 11 denominations, 5 yuan, and 10 yuan, 13 ticket types, and 14 versions.

The second set of RMB was designed by Luo Gongliu, Zhou Lingzhao, and Wang Shikuo, experts from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, and Zhang Zuodong, Wang Yijiu, Shen Naiyong, Wu Zhizhang, and Liu Yushan, professional technicians from the printing enterprise. , Gao Zengji and others were completed at the same time. The design began in February 1951. On February 20, 1952, the Government Affairs Council approved the design drafts for six auxiliary coins of 1, 2, 5 cents, 1, 2, 5, and jiao and 1 yuan coupons. On March 4, 1952, the design drafts for 2 yuan, 5 cents, and 1 yuan coupons were approved. The design drafts of 3 yuan and 5 yuan coupons, and the revised design draft of 10 yuan workers and peasants alliance coupons were approved on December 30, 1954. The second set of RMB gravure carvings is the first time to demonstrate its artistic level domestically and internationally. The people involved in carving figures, landscapes, decorations, and patterns include Wu Pengyue, Lin Wenyi, Liu Guodong, Li Manzeng, Zhao Yayun, etc. The representative works are 2 The Yan'an Pagoda on the front of the yuan note and the national unity group portrait on the 5 yuan note were both created by Wu Pengyue. In order to improve the level of anti-counterfeiting, the printing technology of the second set of RMB has been greatly improved. All coupons are offset printed, corner coupons are printed by offset and single-sided gravure, and yuan coupons are printed by offset and double-sided gravure. In addition to double gravure printing, the 10-yuan coupons also used the relatively advanced welding technology at the time. However, due to our country's printing conditions and capabilities at that time, the three large denomination bills of 3 yuan, 5 yuan, and 10 yuan had to be entrusted to the Soviet Union for printing. This period went through a tortuous process, generally going through 4 stages: The first stage was in March 1952, with the approval of Premier Zhou, the Head Office of the People's Bank of China sent a four-person printing team headed by He Xiaochu to the Soviet Union to negotiate the printing of RMB. After repeated negotiations, which lasted for one and a half years, a contract was signed with the Soviet Union on August 17, 1953 for the printing of 3 and 5-yuan coupons, totaling 1.5 billion coupons and 5.5 billion yuan; the second stage was on September 30, 1954 Zhang Wentian, the Chinese Ambassador to the Soviet Union, negotiated with the Soviet Union to agree to print 10-yuan coupons. After nearly two years of testing and negotiation, a supplementary agreement for the printing of 10-yuan coupons was signed with the Soviet Union on June 14, 1956, totaling 2 100 million pieces, 2 billion yuan; the third stage was the meeting between the ambassador to the Soviet Union and the Soviet side on March 24, 1961, to discuss the issue of renewing the printing of 10 yuan coupons. On August 26, a renewal contract was signed with the Soviet side, with a total order of 3 100 million pieces, 3 billion yuan; the fourth stage was from July 1962 to May 15, 1964. Due to the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations, in order to prevent the credibility of the RMB from accidental damage, the three types of banknotes printed by the Soviet Union were withdrawn in advance and sent to the Soviet Union. Fang asked for the printing materials for the three types of tickets.

During the issuance process of the second set of RMB, two important revisions took place.

The first is the revised version of the 1953 red 1-yuan coupon. It was July 1955, just four months after the second set of RMB was issued, when serious discoloration and fading of the red 1-yuan notes was discovered. This matter immediately attracted the attention of the Head Office of the People's Bank of China, which immediately collected and analyzed the materials submitted by various places, and wrote a report to submit to the Central Committee and the State Council. Premier Zhou attached great importance to this incident, conducted a detailed study of the report, made very important instructions, and forwarded it to Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Buping, Peng Zhen and other central leaders for circulation. In his instructions, Premier Zhou on the one hand requested banks to invite experts from the Academy of Sciences to conduct technical analysis and identification of the physical and chemical properties of the red 1 yuan. On the other hand, he also instructed the public security department to analyze and investigate as soon as possible whether there is any damage caused by bad elements, and study how to deal with counterfeiting by bad elements. Destruction measures. Later, technical identification confirmed that the main reason for the discoloration and fading was the poor performance of the ink's binder, which affected the adhesion of the pigment on the paper, which was especially unfavorable for storage in wooden boxes such as pine, cypress, and fir.

Facts have also confirmed this, because it is found that the discoloration and fading of red 1-yuan notes are more serious in the Jiangnan area. People there love new coins and are willing to put the banknotes in pine, cypress, fir and other wooden boxes. In addition, in the south The above-mentioned discoloration and fading problems occur due to the influence of humid climate. Technical appraisal also confirmed that among various colors of banknotes, red has the greatest variability, while black is more stable. In order to maintain the credibility of the RMB, the People's Bank of China followed the instructions of Premier Zhou. On the one hand, it required its banknote printing factories to improve the connecting materials of ink and change the ink formula. On the other hand, it proposed to the central government to redesign and print another currency that still used Tiananmen as its symbol. A proposal was made to replace the discolored and faded red 1-yuan coupons with blue-black 1-yuan coupons in the main scene. During this period, Comrade Li Xiannian wrote a letter to the Prime Minister based on the bank's report, proposing that the new version of the 1-yuan note should use the usual Tiananmen scene, that is, remove the 8 palace lanterns, and add "Long Live the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China" and "World People's Congress" Long live unity" two slogans. After careful study, Premier Zhou gave an instruction: "Agree!" At the same time, he once again conveyed Chairman Mao's opinion through his secretary that he did not agree to put his image on the banknotes. As for the question of what color to use for the revised 1-yuan notes, bank leaders and relevant designers have also put a lot of thought into it, because our people have the habit of favoring red and like bright red and green. Red is easy for the masses to accept, and black is easy to accept. It would be beneficial to prevent counterfeiting of banknotes. Therefore, two plans, red and black, were proposed. The advantages and disadvantages of each were stated and reported to Comrades Li Xiannian and Chen Yun, and then forwarded to Premier Zhou. Comrade Chen Yun commented: "I think black is better. The main reason is that the ink is wear-resistant." After reading Chen Yun's instructions, Premier Zhou said: "I agree to use black." In this way, the 1956 version of the blue-black 1-yuan coupon was determined. Except for the difference in color and year number from the red 1-yuan coupons, eight palace lanterns were removed from Tiananmen Square, and two slogans were added: "Long Live the Republic of the People's Republic of China" and "Long Live the Great Unity of the People of the World."

The second is a revised version of the 1953 purple 5-yuan coupon. The revision of the 5-yuan note is mainly a problem arising from the planning of my country's banknote printing business based on the principle of self-reliance. When we entrusted the Soviet Union to print three types of large-denomination bills, we had already considered that a large country with many personalities and a vast territory like ours would need a huge amount of banknotes, so entrusting foreign countries to print them would not be sustainable in the long run. The plan must be based on self-reliance, and conditions must be actively created to enable complete self-printing of banknotes as soon as possible. For this reason, a spare version of the 5-yuan coupon was designed and produced in 1956 to prepare for emergencies. The theme image of the alternate version is still "National Unity", but there are major changes in various aspects such as lace, flower symbols, decoration, and shading. In 1960, under the guidance of the policy of self-reliance and through the hard work of my country's paper workers, a hollow star full-page watermark trial-produced by my country's self-made rotary screen paper machine was born in Baoding Paper Mill, Hebei. In order to meet the needs of the political and economic situation at that time, this spare version came in handy. In August of that year, the 1956 version of the 5-yuan coupon was printed, which was changed from the original purple to brown, and was issued on April 20, 1962. This is the first step for my country's banknote printing industry to embark on the road of complete self-reliance. It is also the first time that my country's banknote printing uses domestically produced watermarked banknote paper, which is of great significance in the history of my country's banknote printing. In this way, the second set of RMB plus the above two revised coupons will have 13 types of coupons.

The second set of RMB has some obvious characteristics in terms of ticket pattern design, color and ink configuration, use of ticket width and banknote paper, writing rules, and use of year numbers.

First, the entire set of design ideas is complete and unified, with outstanding national style. The design concept of this set of RMB emphasizes the unity of the political and artistic aspects of the design theme. Its main design is divided into three levels according to the currency types: First, the six auxiliary currencies use thematic images of modern transportation, machinery, and power generation to reflect the construction of socialism Achievements; secondly, the 1, 2 and 3 yuan coupons respectively adopt the themes of Chinese revolutionary holy places such as Beijing Tiananmen, Yan'an Pagoda Mountain and Jinggang Mountain Longyuankou, reflecting the three milestones of the Chinese revolution; thirdly, the 5 and 10 yuan coupons are based on the Chinese society The theme is the socialist political system, reflecting the theme of the great unity of all ethnic groups and the alliance of workers and peasants, and embodies the foundation of New China. The political content of the above three levels of themes fully reflects the development of the times and the superiority of our country's socialist system, the new characteristics of economic development, and the excellent traditions of our country's national culture.

The full set of coupons forms a unified whole. The upper and lower laces on the front are symmetrical. The frame has changed the rigid form of the four borders of old banknotes. The back is themed with the national emblem and the line name and face value in the four ethnic languages ??of Han, Mongolian, Uyghur and Tibetan. The left and right flowers The symbols are symmetrical, lively and generous, and unique.

The second is the appropriate color and ink configuration. The second set of RMB main colors are divided into different colors, and the cold and warm colors are coordinated and harmonious. Seven colors including red, blue, green, ink, tea, brown, and purple are rationally used to make the differences between the types of Western currency notes obvious and easy for the public to identify. , convenient for circulation and use, and fully considers the physical and chemical properties of the ink such as acid resistance, alkali resistance, light resistance, and wear resistance.

Third, the ticket size adopts a step-by-step method of increasing length and width. The auxiliary coins and the main coins are divided into different grades, and the coupon types are increased incrementally, so that the length of each coupon size gradually increases in proportion, making it beautiful, easy to count, and easy to use.

Fourth, the paper selection is excellent. Except for the cent currency notes, which use Finnish Dowling paper and old US dollar banknote paper, the other 13 types of banknotes all use special banknote paper supplied by the Soviet Union under the background of Sino-Soviet friendship at that time and banknote paper newly developed by my country, with excellent paper quality. , crisp, wear-resistant, and all have full-page watermarks or fixed watermarks. The 1-yuan, 2-yuan, 5-yuan and 1-yuan coupons are full-page watermark paper with hollow five-pointed stars, and the 2-yuan, 3-yuan and 5-yuan coupons are solid pentagonal The star pattern is mixed with full-page watermark paper, and the 10-yuan coupon is fixed watermark paper with my country's national emblem pattern, which greatly improves the anti-counterfeiting performance.

Fifth, the writing is unified. The bank name, denomination and year number in Chinese characters on the second set of RMB were all written by Mr. Ma Wenwei, a financial researcher at the head office at that time, in the "Zhang Heinv" script; the three ethnic minority characters of Mongolian, Uyghur and Tibetan were also written by each ethnic minority. Written by an expert, reviewed and signed by the director of the Ethnic Affairs Committee. The concentration of four characters on one ticket not only reflects the great unity among the people of all ethnic groups in our country, but is also beautiful and elegant, making it a treasure in the art of calligraphy.

The second set of RMB has completely wiped out the traces of inflation in our country over the years, completely ended the history of disorder in our country’s monetary system, and enabled our country’s monetary system to develop from the initial unification of the first set to a consolidated and stable one. It became the first complete currency system in New China and played an important role in the construction of socialism.