Catalog
10 Dollars
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of Canada, Toronto |
|---|---|
| Year | 1939 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Dark intaglio-printed note with a central guilloche vignette bearing the numeral 10, flanked by two portrait medallions — a younger man with spectacles at left and an older man with a moustache at right. The issuer's name arcs across the top in bold letterpress, with the place and date of issue reading 'Toronto, 3rd Jan. 1939' and the promise to pay legend below; serial number E073515 appears twice in the upper field, with denomination counters in each corner and ornate lathe-work borders throughout. |
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| Reverse description | Printed in dark blue intaglio, the reverse is dominated by an elaborate cartouche of fine guilloche scrollwork enclosing large numeral counters '10' at left and right. At centre, a circular vignette displays a crowned lion passant guardant standing on a crown, serving as the bank's heraldic device; the issuer's name is inscribed across the top and the denomination 'TEN DOLLARS' appears at the foot within the border. |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of Canada had been absorbed into the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce by 1961, but in 1939 it was still an independent chartered bank operating under the Bank Act — one of the last years that privately issued chartered bank notes circulated freely in Canada. The 1944 revision to the Bank Act effectively ended new chartered bank note issuance, making this 1939 series among the final printings from any Canadian private institution.
The Canadian Bank Note Company, Ottawa, handled virtually all late-era chartered bank work by this point, having consolidated the domestic printing market over decades.