This note is part of a group of five notes purportedly coming from the Pflummer collection which was sold to an English nobleman, the Marquess of Bute, who in turn, sold the collection to Spink's. Around 1983, George D. Hatie, the President of the American Numismatic Association, bought it from Ted Uhl, a paper money dealer. It eventually ended up in the collection of William H. McDonald, Founder of Canadian Paper Money Society.

For over 150 years, the note was believed to be genuine because it is documented in the classic 1833 Chinese numismatic catalog, Ch'uan Pu T'ung Chih (Ancient Coin Catalog) by Lin Meng. This catalog was a major reference source for ancient Chinese notes. "Chinese Paper Money" published in 1911 by Henry Ramsdenas and "Certain Old Chinese Notes" published in 1915 by Andrew McFarland Davis were based on this catalog. The catalog was translated into English and published in 1918 under the title "Ancient Chinese Paper Money as Described in a Chinese Work on Numismatics" by Andrew McFarland Davis.

In the early 1980s, however, many numismatists began to question the reliability of the catalog. It's now a general knowledge that both the catalog and the note are bogus. Read The Story of Five Ancient Chinese Notes on my blog.

I bought this note from William H. McDonald's son-in-law through Joel Shafer of Lyn Knight Auctions on September 17, 2010.