Taiwan’s 500 yuan note (P1996) celebrates an animal the island very nearly lost, the Formosan sika deer. The last known wild sika was killed in 1969, leaving the subspecies extinct in the wild. A recovery project began at Kenting National Park in 1984 with 22 founder deer from Taipei Zoo, and the animals were released into the park in 1994.

On the back the deer stand before Mount Dabajian among bamboo foliage, and bamboo returns in the watermark together with the numeral 500. The front belongs to a youth baseball team, real children captured by a photographer. Both scenes come from the 2000 series, in which most denominations moved away from Chiang Kai-shek towards modern themes and Taiwan’s natural world.

This is the revised version, engraved in 2004, year 93 of the Republic of China calendar, and printed by the Central Engraving and Printing Plant. A central bank circular of 19 July 2005 put the new notes into circulation the following day in Taiwan, Kinmen and Matsu at once, adding an optically variable window thread on the back.

Graded UNC, the note has never circulated and shows no folds or counting marks.