Catalog
100 Dollars / Piastres
| Issuer | Montreal Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1818 |
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| Value | 100 Dollars / Piastres |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a classic early 19th-century style, with the Royal Arms vignette centred at the top surmounted by a crown and flanked by lion and unicorn supporters. The bank title 'Montreal Bank' is rendered in large script lettering across the centre of the note, with the promise-to-pay text in letterpress surrounding it. Rectangular counter panels bearing the denomination '100' appear at each corner, with 'ONE HUNDRED' running vertically in the left border and 'CENT PIASTRES' in the right border. A small vignette of a cashier's desk or safe appears at the lower centre, with spaces for manuscript date, serial number, and signatures of the Cashier and President. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | No reverse image is available for this note. Early Montreal Bank issues of this period typically have a plain or lightly printed reverse, consistent with contemporary Canadian chartered bank practice. |
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| Comments |
The Montreal Bank — later renamed the Bank of Montreal — was chartered in 1817, making this one of the earliest notes issued by what would become Canada's oldest chartered bank. In 1818 the institution had barely begun operations, and notes of this denomination were essentially instruments of commercial credit between merchants, not everyday currency. High-denomination notes from infant colonial banks rarely left the hands of a small circle of traders and correspondents.
Surviving examples from this first emission are exceptionally rare. The PS prefix in the reference signals its listing under obsolete North American bank issues, and the DA suffix typically denotes a proof or specimen variant — worth confirming against the archive record before cataloging as an issued note.