1 Cent HKD #246

Front

Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 to 2022. Her portrait appears on the right side of this Government of Hong Kong one cent note, reflecting Hong Kong's status as a British Crown Colony. The note features bilingual text in English and Chinese (香港政府), with the denomination stated as 'ONE CENT' (壹分) and legal tender declaration specifying use for payments not exceeding one dollar. The left side displays Chinese characters '壹分' within a circular guilloche pattern, with the numeral '1' in corners.

Back

Plain reverse with no printed design, characteristic of low-denomination Government of Hong Kong cent notes. The back is blank cream-colored paper, a cost-saving measure typical of fractional currency notes intended for everyday small transactions.

History

Government of Hong Kong cent notes were issued from 1941 through 1995 as fractional currency for small transactions. These notes circulated alongside coins and were issued directly by the colonial government rather than by commercial banks (which issued dollar-denominated notes). The one cent denomination was among the smallest in circulation. Following the 1997 handover to China, cent notes gradually fell out of use due to inflation reducing their purchasing power. All Government of Hong Kong cent notes were officially demonetized on November 1, 2016, though they had effectively ceased circulating years earlier. This design with Queen Elizabeth II was used during much of the post-war period.