10 Dollars

The Bank of Montreal was the oldest chartered bank in Canada when this note was issued, and by the 1890s it functioned as something close to a de facto central bank — handling government accounts and acting as fiscal agent for the Dominion. Private chartered bank notes like this one remained legal tender across Canada until the Bank of Canada Act of 1934 finally pushed commercial banks out of the currency business entirely.

The British American Bank Note Company had been printing for the major chartered banks since the 1860s and by 1895 was firmly established in Ottawa. Notes from this series are prone to corner wear and fold splits along the horizontal center crease, a known weakness in this paper stock.