1.000 Dollars

The Dominion of Canada's 1871 $1,000 note is one of the rarest pieces in all of Canadian notaphily. Issued under the Dominion Notes Act of 1870, which gave the federal government direct control over large-denomination paper currency — displacing the chartered banks from that role — the series was never intended for retail commerce. These notes moved between financial institutions and government accounts; ordinary Canadians never handled them.

The British American Bank Note Company had only recently been formed through the 1866 merger of two competing Ottawa firms, and this series represents some of their earliest work for the new Dominion government. Known surviving examples across the entire 1871 issue can be counted in the single digits.