Catalog
1 Dollar
| Issuer | Agricultural Bank, Montreal |
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| Year | 1841-1846 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is executed in intaglio and letterpress, with the central vignette illustrating a pastoral agricultural scene — a farmer ploughing a field with two oxen beneath a grove of trees. Two large numeral "1" counters flank the central vignette, while allegorical female figures occupy each lateral border: a standing figure to the left and a seated figure to the right. The issuer's name "The Agricultural Bank" appears in bold letterpress across the lower centre, with the promise text and place of issue "Montreal" below. |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is plain, printed on aged cotton paper with no visible design elements, vignettes, or printed text — consistent with many private Canadian bank issues of the early 1840s that left the reverse unprinted. |
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| Comments |
The Agricultural Bank of Montreal was chartered in 1837 but operated on shaky footing almost from the start, never achieving the capitalization its promoters promised. It collapsed in 1837 — the same year as its charter — making any note issued under its name during the 1841–1846 window part of a complicated post-failure story involving lingering obligations, asset sales, and creditor disputes that dragged through Lower Canadian courts for years.
Notes from failed colonial banks that continued to circulate informally after insolvency are among the most historically tangled instruments in Canadian numismatics. Whether any example in collectors' hands today passed through actual commerce or was simply unissued remainder stock is rarely documented.