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20 Dollars
| Issuer | Colonial Bank of Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1859 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse carries the bold copperplate title "Colonial Bank of Canada" across the upper portion, with the promise text "Will pay Twenty Dollars to bearer on demand — Toronto" below. A mounted knight vignette occupies the upper left corner, while a pastoral agricultural scene with horses and a hay wagon forms the central vignette; a young female portrait in period dress appears at the lower right. Denomination numerals "20" appear in guilloche rosettes at the lower left and right corners, with the note footer bearing the imprint of the American Bank Note Company, New York, and Joce Bros., Draper, Welch & Co., along with the legend "INCORPORATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT" and a stated capital of $2,000,000. |
|---|---|
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| Variants | P#S1672a - Issued note P#S1672r - Unsigned remainder |
| Comments |
The Colonial Bank of Canada had a short and troubled life. Chartered in 1856 under the Province of Canada, it never achieved the footing its organizers intended, and by the early 1860s it had failed — meaning notes issued in 1859 were in circulation for only a few years before the bank collapsed and redemption became uncertain. Surviving examples from this issuer are scarce precisely because so few were printed before operations ceased.
The American Bank Note Company, newly consolidated in 1858 from several competing New York security printers, produced this note in only its second year of operation under that name.