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Bank of Hell 50,000,000 dollar banknotes, from set of funerary offerings

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Bank of Hell 50,000,000 dollar banknotes, from set of funerary offerings
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These Bank of Hell notes, bought from a funerary goods supplier in Singapore, are from a boxed set of paper and cardboard offerings for a man. The offerings represent symbolic possessions for the afterlife, including various currency forms for bribes.

These paper banknotes are all 50,000,000 dollar notes, although they come in three sizes. They bear a passing resemblance to real banknotes, but the person represented on them is one of the Judges of Hell.

These symbolic possessions are burned in a night-time Daoist funerary ceremony, several weeks after the deceased's cremation. It is a widespread contemporary tradition in south-east Asia. The cardboard items are burned to ensure a comfortable afterlife.

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