2 Dollars

The Dominion of Canada's first fractional and low-denomination note issues followed Confederation in 1867, but the federal government was slow to establish a reliable domestic printing operation. The British American Bank Note Company, founded in Montreal in 1866 but with production facilities in Ottawa, provided the critical infrastructure that made a truly Canadian-printed federal currency possible — this 1870 series being among the earliest results of that arrangement.

The Dominion notes were issued in direct competition with chartered bank notes, part of a deliberate federal strategy to crowd out private bank currency and consolidate monetary control in Ottawa. The 2-dollar denomination sat at a value heavily dominated by bank-issued paper at the time, making its acceptance uneven outside major centres.

Pick 13 is among the scarcer issues in the 1870 series; surviving examples in any condition are relatively few given the note's age and active use in trade.