Catalog
20 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Yarmouth |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
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| Value | 20 Dollars |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is a richly engraved note in green and black, with a central oval portrait vignette of a young man flanked by allegorical lion and equestrian figures. To the left, a smaller vignette shows a farmer with a scythe, while to the right a sailing vessel at dock appears in an oval frame. The denomination "TWENTY" is rendered in large green guilloche lettering across the centre, with "BANK OF YARMOUTH" and "NOVA SCOTIA" inscribed above and below respectively. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANK OF YARMOUTH TWENTY DOLLARS TWENTY NOVA SCOTIA $20 20 |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Yarmouth was a small Nova Scotia chartered bank that operated from 1859 until 1869, when it wound up its affairs — a lifespan short enough that its notes in any denomination are genuinely uncommon today. The American Bank Note Company produced the plates in New York, which was standard practice for Maritime Canadian banks of the period; local printing infrastructure simply couldn't match the security engraving quality ABNCo offered.
At the twenty-dollar level, demand was low relative to smaller denominations, and fewer were printed to begin with. The bank's failure within a decade means redemption and destruction reduced surviving numbers further.