Catalog
2 Dollars Henry's Bank Bas-Canada
| Issuer | Henry's Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1835 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette within an octagonal frame shows a seated female allegory flanked by the numeral 2 on each side; to the left, a standing male figure beside agricultural implements, and to the right, livestock and rural scenery. Bilingual text in French and English runs across the body of the note, with the bold legends DEUX PIASTRES and TWO DOLLARS in large letterpress type. The border is composed of lathe-work ornamental panels, with DEUX repeated in the lower corners and HENRY'S BANK arched across the top. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | To Edmund Henry HENRY'S BANK Lower Canada 2 2 A demande payez à l'ordre de L.B. Varin (?) à votre bureau à Montréal DEUX PIASTRES pour valeur reçue On demand pay to the order of L. B. Varin (?) at your Office in Montreal TWO DOLLARS for value received Accepted LAPRAIRIE II II Deux Deux |
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Henry's Bank was one of the short-lived private banks that proliferated in Lower Canada during the 1830s, operating outside the chartered banking system at a time when the colonial legislature and the Château Clique were locked in bitter disputes over financial control. These institutions issued notes on little more than the personal credit of their proprietors, and most collapsed or were wound up before Confederation made them irrelevant.
The S-prefix Pick reference places this firmly in the speculative or unchartered category. Surviving examples are rare precisely because circulation was local and brief.