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1 Pound / 4 Dollars Commercial Bank of Newfoundland
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of Newfoundland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1867-1884 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Pound |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 1£ 1£ COMMERCIAL BANK OF NEWFOUNDLAND FOUR DOLLARS We promise to pay the Bearer on Demand ONE POUND Currency in SPECIE. SAINT JOHNS. 1st Jan / 1874 |
| Reverse description | Uniface; the reverse is unprinted, presenting plain cream-white cotton paper with no design, lettering, or security features, consistent with the printing practices of Perkins, Bacon & Co. for colonial private bank issues of the period. |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of Newfoundland operated as a private chartered bank from 1857 until its collapse in December 1894, one of two Newfoundland banks that failed simultaneously in a financial panic that wiped out savings across the island. Notes from this series predate that collapse by a decade or more, placing them in the relatively stable middle years of the bank's existence before the catastrophic credit contraction hit.
The dual denomination — one pound sterling and four dollars — reflects Newfoundland's awkward monetary position during this period, operating with both British sterling and a dollar system before standardizing on cents in 1865. The persistence of pound notation well into the 1880s on commercial bank paper says something about how slowly trading habits changed in St. John's merchant circles.
Perkins, Bacon & Petch held the contract for security printing across much of the British colonial world at this time, and their St. John's-payable plates were produced in London.