King-On Mao

King On Mao was a pioneering numismatist whose English-language publications, including History of Chinese Paper Currency (1968) and History of Paper Currency as issued by the People’s Republic of China (1972), opened the field to non-Chinese collectors.
He was known for dressing in the style of a 19th-century Chinese Mandarin, leading contemporaries to describe him as both “a gentleman and a rogue.”
Despite controversy surrounding his trading activities in Hong Kong, his influential scholarship remains fundamental to the study of Chinese banknote history.