Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 Dollars
| Issuer | Macdonald & Co. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1863 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Printed in black on cream cotton paper, the obverse is set in letterpress with the firm name 'MACDONALD & CO.' in large bold type across the centre, surmounted by a crowned armorial vignette flanked by a lion and a unicorn and inscribed 'ESTABLISHED 1859', while ornate lathe-work panels at the upper corners carry the denomination numeral '10'. A seated classical female figure occupies a small circular vignette at the lower left, an ewer vignette appears at the lower right, and the place of issue 'Victoria, VANCOUVERS ISLAND.' is inscribed to the right. The promise-to-pay obligation, dated 6 September 1863, is rendered in manuscript script across the body of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting plain cream-coloured cotton paper aged to an uneven buff tone with pronounced fold lines and surface wear consistent with genuine circulation; no vignettes, typeset lettering, or design elements of any kind are present. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Macdonald & Co. operated as private bankers in Victoria, British Columbia, during the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rush years, issuing their own notes at a time when no chartered bank had yet established a reliable presence in the colony. Private banking paper of this kind was legally precarious — British Columbia had no formal framework for private note issue, and the Hudson's Bay Company's own currency monopoly ambitions created friction with any competing paper circulating in the interior.
Tith Bremner & Co. in San Francisco handled a number of small-run private issues for Pacific Northwest merchants and bankers who had no access to eastern engravers. The firm's output was competent but modest in scale, and surviving examples from any of their clients are genuinely uncommon.
Macdonald & Co. failed before Confederation; redemption was never guaranteed.