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10 Dollars Canal Bank, 'Redback'
| Issuer | New Orleans Canal & Banking Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1831-1895 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Dollars (10 USD) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in red-orange ink — the characteristic coloring that gave this series the 'Redback' nickname — the reverse carries a central circular vignette of a bald eagle with spread wings perched before a river landscape with a canal boat in the background, enclosed within a wreath of foliage and agricultural produce. Four large guilloche counter medallions each bearing the numeral 10 occupy the corners, flanked on the outer edges by elaborate lathe-work rosette clusters. The bank name is split across two cartouches, CANAL at top center and BANK at bottom center, framing the eagle vignette. A faint blue underprint of numeral 10 repeating pattern is visible across the entire field. |
| Reverse lettering | CANAL 10 10 10 10 BANK |
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| Comments |
The Canal Bank was chartered by Louisiana in 1831 and became one of the most consistently solvent institutions in antebellum New Orleans — a city that chewed through banks at a remarkable rate. The "Redback" nickname derives from the distinctive red ink used on the reverse, an early attempt at a security printing measure intended to frustrate photographic counterfeiting, which was a genuine and growing concern by the 1860s.
Toppan, Carpenter & Co. produced fine-line engraved American bank paper from their Philadelphia and New York operations throughout this period. The Canal Bank survived the Civil War, Confederate occupation, and multiple regional financial panics before finally closing in 1895.