10 Dollars

The Federal Bank of Canada was a short-lived chartered bank, incorporated in 1874 and failed in 1888 — one of the earlier casualties of the consolidation pressure that would thin Ontario's private banking sector considerably before the century ended. Notes issued under its charter were private obligations, not government currency, redeemable at the bank's own counter.

The Canada Bank Note Printing Co. was itself still a young operation in 1874, having only recently consolidated several smaller engraving firms in Toronto. Early impressions from this printer show occasional unevenness in the intaglio plate work, worth examining closely on surviving examples of this series.