PMG Featured Note of the Month: Hong Kong 1,000 Dollars

Posted on 5/19/2026

With China's Dragon Boat races coming up, we're showcasing a note that celebrates them.

Click images to enlarge.

Country: Hong Kong, China

Catalog Number: 216b

Date: 2012

Denomination: 1,000 Dollars

Varieties: There are five varieties, 216a through 216e, which differ in the date listed at the bottom of the front of the note.

What makes it special? This note shows a Dragon Boat Festival scene on the back. Its date floats yearly from late May until mid-June; this year, it is held on June 19. Called the Tuen Ng Festival in Hong Kong, it is traditionally celebrated with dragon boat races and the consumption of dumplings known as zongzi. Today, the biggest dragon boat races are in Hong Kong; Hunan, China; and Ottawa, Canada.

Did you know? The day of the festival, the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, is considered unlucky. The note pictured here has a Solid-8 Serial Number, which is considered particularly lucky in China and elsewhere in Asia.

Total graded by PMG: As of mid-May 2026, the PMG Population Report includes more than 5,000 examples, including 796 of Pick# 216a; 492 of Pick# 216b; 896 of Pick# 216c; 375 of Pick# 216d; and 2,501 of Pick# 216e.

PMG median grade: PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ for Pick# 216c and PMG 67 Superb Gem Uncirculated EPQ for all other varieties.

PMG highest graded: Three 216b examples are graded PMG 70★ Gem Uncirculated EPQ, as are one example each of 216a and 216e

Sales highlight: The Solid-8 example shown in this article realized $5,160 through Heritage Auctions in 2021. An example of the same variety (but without a fancy serial number) graded PMG 69 Superb Gem Uncirculated EPQ realized $360 at a Heritage Auctions sale in 2022.

PMG Registry: This note is part of the most popular Hong Kong category in the PMG Registry, Type Set, 1930-Date, P41-Date, Issued Notes, where Alan Collection Malaysia's second-place Complete Hong Kong Set has an example of 216a in PMG 67 Superb Gem Uncirculated EPQ. It is also part of the shorter The HKSBC Limited Set, 1993-Date, Type Set, Issued Notes category, where the first-place set, Bin Wang's Bin's HKSBC Set 1993-Date, has a 216e graded PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated.

Previous Notes of the Month:


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