Catalog
100 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Montreal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1931 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#S557 |
| Obverse description | Black intaglio print over a pale multicolour guilloche underprint, with two engraved portrait vignettes flanking a central cartouche — a bust in left profile at left and a bust in right profile at right, both executed in high-relief line engraving. The bank's arms surmount the central denomination legend ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS, with the place and date of issue MONTREAL, JAN. 2ND 1931 below. The serial number prints in red at upper centre, beneath the issuer's title THE BANK OF MONTREAL across the top and the promise clause WILL PAY TO BEARER ON DEMAND. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANK OF MONTREAL ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS 100 CANADIAN BANK NOTE COMPANY LIMITED |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Montreal was one of Canada's chartered banks still issuing its own currency in 1931 — a practice that would end entirely with the Bank of Canada Act of 1934 and the subsequent withdrawal of chartered bank notes from circulation beginning in 1935. At the $100 denomination, these notes were essentially instruments of commercial and interbank settlement rather than everyday currency; very few would have passed through ordinary hands.
The Canadian Bank Note Company in Ottawa had by this point long dominated high-security printing contracts for Canadian chartered issues. Surviving examples at this denomination tend to show minimal handling wear for the obvious reason.