Catalog
100 Dollars / 20 Pounds, 16 Shillings, and 8 Pence
| Issuer | The Royal Bank of Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Value | 100 Dollars |
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| Obverse description | Central intaglio vignette within an oval frame presents a seated allegorical female figure reclining in a tropical landscape with palm trees, a dove alighting on her outstretched hand, rendered in fine line engraving on an orange guilloche underprint. Denomination counters reading '100' appear at upper left and right, each bearing the sterling equivalent '£20-16-8', flanking the large bank title 'THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA' in bold letterpress at top. The date 'January 2nd 1920' and place 'Georgetown, British Guiana' appear at lower left in script, with the written denomination 'One Hundred British Guiana Dollars the equivalent of £20-16-8' at lower right, above a solid panel inscribed 'THE SUM OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS' and a footer band reading 'REDEEMABLE ONLY IN BRITISH GUIANA' between 'ONE HUNDRED' panels, with 'GENERAL MANAGER' and 'PRESIDENT' signature titles at the base. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ONE HUNDRED BRITISH GUIANA DOLLARS THE EQUIVALENT OF £20 -16-8 ONE HUNDRED BRITISH GUIANA DOLLARS THE EQUIVALENT OF £20 -16-8 THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA |
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| Comments |
The dual denomination — $100 and its sterling equivalent of £20 16s 8d — reflects the transitional monetary reality of early twentieth-century Canada, where exchange transactions between dollar and pound accounts were still common enough to warrant printing both values on the face of a high-denomination commercial note. By the early 1920s that practice was dying out, and the Royal Bank quietly abandoned sterling co-denominations on subsequent issues.
The American Bank Note Company's Ottawa facility, rather than its New York plant, handled production — a distinction that matters for provenance, as Ottawa-printed ABNCo work from this period is less extensively catalogued than New York output.