1 Dollar = 5 Shillings

The Bank of Montreal was already the dominant financial institution in British North America by the 1840s, yet this note straddles two currency systems simultaneously — quoting both dollars and shillings to serve a commercial population that thought in either unit depending on context. The dual denomination was a practical concession to the persistence of Halifax currency reckoning in daily trade, not a design flourish.

The American Bank Note Company imprint dates this to the earliest years of ABNCo's existence — the firm was only consolidated in 1858, meaning notes from this period were produced under one of its predecessor houses, most likely Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, who held the Bank of Montreal account at the time.