After George V’s death, the Government of Hong Kong replaced the bearded portrait with King George VI while keeping the same Bradbury Wilkinson $1 layout. The purple-faced note is Pick 312, listed ND (1936) in the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. Hong Kong collectors nickname it the “Purple Emperor” (紫皇) — the first of three George VI colour stages before the green dated issues of 1949–1952.
Hong Kong collectors often treat Government one-dollar notes as a five-nickname set: 鬍鬚佬 (George V), 紫皇 / 藍皇 / 綠皇 (George VI by colour), and 英女皇 (Elizabeth II). 紫皇 sits between the short-lived Whiskered Man and the later blue and green George VI faces.
Dating disagreement
Catalogue dating is not uniform. PMG and the Standard Catalog often use ND (1936); some Hong Kong references place the purple issue in 1937–1939, and one Traditional Chinese source cites November 1939. None of these dates is printed on the note itself, so the disagreement is about when the type was released or printed, not about reading a face date.
Design and production
Printed by Bradbury Wilkinson for the Government of Hong Kong at about 126 × 79 mm. Layout matches the 1935 George V note; the main changes are the young king’s portrait and the purple colour that gives 紫皇 its name. Later “Blue Emperor” and “Green Emperor” notes continue the same frame with new colours — so colour under natural light is the first sorting step on a dealer’s table.
Purple and blue can both look “cool” in LED booth lighting. If a photo seems ambiguous, ask for a daylight shot of the face next to a known green 綠皇, or inspect the note in person before you commit.
Collectors use nicknames like “Purple Emperor” (紫皇) based on the portrait and face colour.
Wartime survival and collecting
Purple George VI notes circulated into the years leading up to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (December 1941). Pre-war small change was heavily used and heavily lost; sharp original paper is therefore scarcer than for postwar green types. Graded EPQ examples still appear, but type collectors should budget for condition premiums versus a common 1950s 英女皇.
Collecting notes
- Standard name: 1936 ND Hong Kong Government $1 “Purple Emperor” (紫皇), Pick 312.
- Separate it from blue (藍皇) and green (綠皇) George VI faces by colour under natural light.
- State your dating source (SCWPM ND 1936 vs local 1937–1939) when listing online.
- Pre-war purple notes saw heavy wartime attrition; sharp, original paper is harder to find than later green types.