Just a quick personal history. A guy on another forum was handing these out, thought it looked interesting so I got one. After reading a little about it, I got more interested. There is a big Asian community here in Houston, a whole section of town with Asian shops and dual language street signs. I had been shopping at a big Asian Supermarket there and remember they had a corner in the place for ceremonial stuff...wandered over there and found some more Hell Notes along with all other kinds of stuff like fake gold bars, credits cards, planes, passports which will make sense once you read about Hell Notes and why they exist. So I went to a few other places and picked up a few more. I am not looking to collect every type, just a nice little sample...I may get one or 2 more if I see a few that catch my eye. Anyway: These are numismatic oddities called Hell Bank Notes or money intended for use in the afterlife. These are notes used in traditional Asian ancestor veneration to ensure that spirits have lots of good things in the afterlife. Hell Bank Notes are money to be spent in the afterworld. These bank notes are well known for their outrageously large denominations and most feature an image of the Jade Emperor, and his Western signature (Yu Wong, or Yuk Wong) countersigned by Yan luo, King of Hell (Yen Loo). The back of each bill usually features an image of the bank of Hell. Some bill will depict famous or mythological people instead...some have US presidents. In Chinese mythology, the name of hell does not carry a negative connotation. The hell they refer to is Di Yu (underground hold/court). Di Yu is a maze of underground levels and chambers where souls are taken to atone for their earthly sins. The popular story is that the word hell was introduced to China by Christian missionaries, who preached that all non-Christian Chinese people would "go to hell" when they died. It was then believed that the word "Hell" was the proper English term for the afterlife. Some notes omit the word "hell" and sometimes will replace it with "heaven" or "paradise". These notes often depict different images for decoration or to convey symbolic information. There are several ways to send Spirit Money to one's departed relatives -- it can be thrown to the winds during the funeral procession, left on a grave at any time, or burned in ceremonial fires. Hell notes are just one of many things bought for the dececed to use in the afterlife, among others there are Hell Credit Cards, plane tickets, Gold, Silver (paper bars or foil on paper)...There are all kinds of daily items that can be sent to the afterlife, often depicted on paper. One sheet might have the image of a comb, a bike, a car, food, etc...anything and everything one might need in the here after as the person will have the same needs there as they did in life. Often the money is said to be used to bribe the King of Hell to quicken the time spent atoning for sins, to get help navigating through the afterlife, or just to make your afterlife more pleasant. http://www.cachecoins.org/hellnotes.htm
Drusus,the Hell bank notes are an area of exonumia.You can see these fluttering around the streets of Hong Kong & Macao,as these are burnt during festivals honouring the ancestors. Aidan.
..."Often the money is said to be used to bribe the King of Hell to quicken the time spent atoning for sins" Intiquity always allowed some sort of gimmick lol Those notes have some pretty cool designs and vibrant colors!!! Considreing they are to be burned, they must be pretty inexpensive ....
No, it doesnt...if you read about Toaism and the religion that spawned this (or even the write up I just posted), you would know that Hell for them is not the same as with christians...The King of 'Hell' does not represent evil. Daggarjon, some are cheaper than others but most are pretty cheap as most are printed on Joss Paper which is very thin.
Thanks for the interesting writeup. Nice notes. On the other end of the spectrum here is an extremely low quality example that I got mixed in with a bunch of world notes.
