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1 Pound - Commercial Bank of Newfoundland
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of Newfoundland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857-1858 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound |
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| Obverse description | Seal, allegorical woman ("Commerce") |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | COMMERCIAL BANK OF NEWFOUNDLAND / ONE / We Promise to pay the Bearer on Demand ONE POUND Currency in Specie. SAINT JOHNS / Directors / Manager |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of Newfoundland was chartered in 1857 and began issuing notes almost immediately — this pound note belongs to that founding emission. Perkins, Bacon & Petch were the dominant security printers of the mid-Victorian period, responsible for stamps and banknotes across dozens of British colonial territories, and their Newfoundland commissions followed naturally from those relationships.
Newfoundland remained a separate dominion outside the Canadian federation until 1949, and its banking history is correspondingly distinct. The Commercial Bank itself collapsed in 1894 during the financial crisis that brought down most of Newfoundland's private banks simultaneously — a catastrophic run triggered in part by the failure of the Union Bank that December.
Surviving notes from the 1857–58 issue predate that crisis by nearly four decades of circulation history.