100 Dollars Bank of St. Thomas

The Bank of St. Thomas operated in St. Thomas, Ontario — a town platted with considerable ambition in the 1820s and briefly expected to become a major commercial hub before railway routes consolidated elsewhere. This note dates from the chaotic period of Upper Canadian free banking, when dozens of chartered and unchartered institutions issued their own paper against specie reserves that were often inadequate or fictitious.

The New England Bank Note Company, Boston, was one of the dominant suppliers of engraved currency to North American issuers in this period, serving banks on both sides of the border. The $100 denomination was rarely circulated in the ordinary sense — notes of this size moved between merchants and institutions, not through daily trade.

The Bank of St. Thomas lost its charter not long after this series was issued, leaving redemption uncertain.