Catalog
2 Dollars = 10 Shillings
| Issuer | Agricultural Bank, Toronto |
|---|---|
| Year | 1835 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress note on plain paper with a central pastoral vignette showing cattle and farm animals in a rural landscape, flanked on the left by a standing female figure in classical dress and on the right by a small circular vignette with a globe motif. The denomination numeral '2' appears in large type at both upper-left and lower-right corners, with the text 'TWO' repeated vertically along the left border. The issuer's title 'AGRICULTURAL BANK' arches across the top centre, with 'Upper Canada' inscribed to the upper right, and the principal inscription reads 'TEN SHILLINGS CURRENCY' in bold letterpress across the centre field, above the promise-to-pay text and the place and date line for Toronto, 1835. |
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| Obverse lettering | AGRICULTURAL BANK Upper Canada TWO TEN SHILLINGS CURRENCY We promise to pay at our OFFICE Toronto Bio Fawcett, John Sutherland, Lyon & Co. |
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The Agricultural Bank of Toronto was a short-lived private institution operating in the commercial chaos of pre-Confederation Upper Canada, where bank charters were scarce and unchartered "free banking" operations filled the gap. It failed in 1837, caught in the broader financial collapse that swept North American credit markets that year — the same crisis that brought down dozens of wildcat banks from New York to the frontier.
The dual denomination — two dollars expressed also as ten shillings — reflects the period's awkward monetary bilingualism, when Halifax currency, York currency, and U.S. dollar values all circulated simultaneously and traders needed conversions on the note itself.
Survivors from this issuer are rare; the bank's brief existence and subsequent failure meant redemption was incomplete and surviving stock largely unaccounted for.