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2 Dollars = 10 Shillings
| Issuer | International Bank of Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1858 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | 1859 |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a detailed intaglio style typical of mid-19th century North American private bank issues. At centre, a large royal coat of arms vignette flanked by a standing female allegorical figure to the left and a horse to the right, with the large numeral '2' appearing in the upper corners and ornate guilloche panels bearing 'TEN SHILLINGS' at lower left and right. The issuer's name 'INTERNATIONAL BANK OF CANADA' is set in bold letterpress across the upper register, with the promise to pay inscription, place of issue 'TORONTO', and manuscript date 'September 15, 1858' appearing in the central text panel above two manuscript signatures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is essentially plain, printed on uncoated cotton paper with no significant design elements, vignettes, or inscriptions, consistent with many private Canadian chartered bank issues of the 1850s that left the reverse blank or near-blank. |
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| Comments |
The International Bank of Canada opened in Toronto in 1858 and failed the same year — one of the more spectacular short-lived banking episodes in mid-Victorian Ontario. Chartered but undercapitalized, it collapsed before establishing any meaningful branch network, which means note emissions were extremely limited and redemption was chaotic.
The dual denomination — dollars on one face, shillings on the other — reflects the transitional currency moment in the Province of Canada, where sterling reckoning and decimal reckoning coexisted until the 1858 decimal currency act formally pushed the colonies toward dollars. Danforth, Wright & Co. operated from both New York and Toronto at this period, though the plates were almost certainly cut in New York.