Catalog
1 Piastre / Dollar = 5 Shillings
| Issuer | Army Bill Office |
|---|---|
| Year | 1814 |
| Type | Pattern or trial banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain letterpress-printed note on aged paper with text arranged in multiple lines across the face. At the top, a decorative typographic header reads 'Bon pour UNE Piastre' flanked by ornamental devices, with the denomination numeral 'I' and suffix '(c)' at either side. Below, the issuing authority and place of issue appear as 'Army Bill Office, Quebec, March, 1814.' The central text states the note is redeemable as 'One Dollar' by Government Bills of Exchange on London at Thirty Days Sight, with manuscript notations 'Entered' and 'By Order of the Commander of the Forces' in the lower portion. At the foot, the equivalences 'Une Piastre' and 'Five Shillings' are printed alongside the series letter '(c)' and manuscript identifiers 'G. N°'. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | I — Bon pour UNE Piastre. — I*(c) G. N° Army Bill Office, Quebec, March, 1814. One Dollar, redeemable at this Office, by Government Bills of Exchange on LONDON, at Thirty Days Sight. Entered, By Order of the Commander of the Forces, Une Piastre. Five Shillings. (c) G. N° |
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| Comments |
The Army Bill Office was a wartime expedient, established in Lower Canada to finance British military operations during the War of 1812. Specie had effectively vanished from circulation — drained by military expenditure and hoarding — and the bills functioned as the primary transactional currency across both military and civilian economies for the duration of the conflict. That dual role was unusual; most emergency military paper stayed within army supply chains.
The 1814 date places this note in the final emission series, issued as the war was winding down. Redemption in specie was guaranteed by the British government, which gave the bills a credibility that most colonial paper issues conspicuously lacked. The trilingual denomination — Piastre, Dollar, and Shillings — reflects the fractured currency habits of Lower Canada at the time.
P#120A is among the scarcer denominations of the final series.