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1 Dollar / 1 Piastre / 5 Shillings The Agricultural Bank
| Issuer | The Agricultural Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1835-1837 |
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| Reference(s) | P#S1557 |
| Obverse description | The obverse carries a central vignette of a young woman alongside an agricultural harvest scene with a figure gathering hay, farm implements, cattle, and deer, reflecting the agrarian character of the issuing institution. The note bears the bilingual title inscription of the bank in both English and French, with denomination statements in dollars, piastres, and shillings currency rendered in letterpress. Numeral and word denomination counters appear at each corner, with the promise-to-pay text and place-date of issue occupying the lower register. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | UPPER CANADA THE AGRICULTURAL BANK No 1 UNE PIASTRE Promises to Pay at its Office in Montreal Five Shillings CURRENCY to or bearer on demand for value received TORONTO 1 Oct 1837 1 1 ONE ONE |
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| Comments |
The Agricultural Bank of Upper Canada was chartered in 1834 as part of a broader push by reformist interests in the colony to break the stranglehold of the Bank of Upper Canada on commercial credit. It operated for only a few years before collapsing, and its notes circulated in a climate of chronic small-change shortage — hence the three-denomination face, expressing value simultaneously in dollars, piastres, and shillings to satisfy different trading communities along the St. Lawrence corridor.
The bank never secured a permanent charter renewal and wound down before 1840. Survivors are rare precisely because the institution was so short-lived.