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1/2 Dollar = 5 Shillings 6 Pence = 1 Ecu
| Issuer | Henry's Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1837 |
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| Reference(s) | P#S1809 |
| Obverse description | Central vignette of a circular coin portrait of Carolus IIII dated 1808, set within an oval cartouche bearing the bank title HENRY'S BANK. Bilingual text in English and French fills the note body, with HALF DOLLAR printed vertically in large letterpress along the left margin and HALF DOL. along the right. Lower portion bears a small eagle vignette and a manuscript signature dated June 1837. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | HENRY'S BANK HALF DOLLAR Good for Two Shillings & Sixpence in money payable at my Office in Montreal Bon pour Un Ecu payable à mon Bureau à Montreal dans la Salle des Banques de Montreal en Espèces aussi que les Banques de Montreal donneront des Espèces hors leurs Billets Notes of the Montreal Banks in Specie as soon as the Banks of Montreal will redeem their notes in specie CARQLUS IIII DEI GRATIA 1808 LE PREMIER |
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| Comments |
Henry's Bank was a short-lived private bank operating out of William Henry (present-day Sorel, Quebec), and this note reflects the monetary chaos that defined Upper and Lower Canadian commerce in the 1830s. The triple denomination — U.S. dollars, British shillings and pence, and the French écu — was not an eccentricity but a practical necessity: the region's population transacted daily in all three currencies, and a bank note that spoke only one monetary language would have been commercially useless.
Burton, Gurley & Edmonds operated in Montreal during a narrow window before consolidation swept out the smaller trade engravers. 1837 was also the year of the Rebellions of Lower Canada, which triggered bank suspensions across the province.