Catalog
1 Dollar
| Issuer | Montreal Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1821 |
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| Value | 1 Dollar |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette of a standing classical female figure on a shoreline with sailing vessels in the background, flanked on either side by ornate oval medallions bearing the numeral "1" with fine lathe-work guilloche surrounds. Additional vertical panels at the far left and right edges each carry the word "ONE" within decorative borders. The text body, rendered in copperplate script, reads the promise-to-pay clause in the name of the President, Directors and Company of the Montreal Bank, with manuscript date and serial number at upper centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | No. / A. / ONE / Montreal / For value received / The President Directors and Company of the MONTREAL BANK promise to pay or bearer ONE dollar on demand out of the Joint Funds of the Association / Cashir / Prest |
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| Comments |
The Montreal Bank was the first chartered bank in Canada, receiving its charter in 1817 and opening for business in 1819. This note predates the formal regulation of colonial banking and circulated in an environment where public trust in paper money was fragile — counterfeiting of early Montreal Bank issues was a documented problem almost from the outset, and the bank employed increasingly elaborate hand-signed and countersigned authentication on its notes as a result.
Early Montreal Bank dollar notes from this period are among the rarest survivals of pre-Confederation Canadian private banking paper. Most were redeemed and destroyed as policy.