10 Dollars

The Merchants Bank of Canada had less than three years left when this note was issued. The bank collapsed in 1922 in one of the most embarrassing failures in Canadian banking history — a combination of reckless lending, fraudulent management under Sir Herbert Holt's predecessor regime, and a postwar credit contraction that left the balance sheet unsalvageable. The Canadian Bank of Commerce absorbed what remained.

The American Bank Note Company operated a Ottawa branch plant from 1897, handling much of Canada's chartered bank printing domestically rather than routing work through New York. Notes from this period of ABNC Ottawa production are distinguishable by subtle differences in plate finish from their American-press counterparts.

Surviving examples of this issue are scarce — the receivership in 1922 cut short redemption cycles, and unreturned notes were effectively demonetized by absorption.