Chinese Revolution, the Bank of China (BOC) was formed. It took the role of the first central bank of the newly named Republic of China and replaced the dynasty’s primary bank. As such, it acquired most of the earlier bank’s 30+ domestic branches and issued banknotes from 1912 until 1942. Importantly for collectors and investors, BOC notes are widely collected worldwide and offer not only great diversity and historical importance but a number of presently underappreciated and undervalued rarities. Their first notes were overprinted on banknotes issued by its predecessor, the Ta Ch’ing Government Bank. These are extremely rare and coveted and were the first of what was to become an impressive assortment of fascinating varieties that exist across not only BOC notes, but numerous other important Chinese banks of the era.