Catalog
10 Piastres/Dollars
| Issuer | Gore Bank of Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse bears the bold title 'The Gore Bank of Hamilton' across the upper register, with secondary trilingual denomination inscriptions reading 'Dix Piastres' and 'Zehn Dollar' flanking the central vignette. The central vignette presents an allegorical female figure seated beside a lion, with a waterfront industrial scene in the background, rendered in fine intaglio engraving. To the left is a portrait medallion of a gentleman within an oval frame surmounted by a '10' counter, and to the right a standing female allegorical figure, with the text 'Promises to pay to the Bearer on demand TEN DOLLARS at this Office, Hamilton, Upper Canada' forming the main legend across the note body. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE GORE BANK OF HAMILTON DIX PIASTRES ZEHN DOLLAR TEN TEN DOLLARS Hamilton, Upper Canada Promises to pay to the Bearer on demand Cash. Pres. 10 |
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The Gore Bank was chartered in 1835 and operated out of Hamilton, Upper Canada, serving the commercial traffic along the western end of Lake Ontario. Canadian chartered banks of this period issued their own notes freely — there was no central bank, no federal currency authority, and notes from dozens of competing institutions circulated simultaneously, often at discount depending on how far from the issuing branch you were trying to spend them.
The dual denomination — piastres alongside dollars — reflects the genuinely messy monetary reality of pre-Confederation Canada, where Spanish milled dollars, Halifax currency, and American coinage all overlapped in daily commerce. One piastre was reckoned at roughly one dollar in this accounting convention.
The Gore Bank was absorbed by the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1870.