1 Pound / 4 Dollars Commercial Bank of Newfoundland

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.