Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Dollars
| Issuer | Merchants Bank of Halifax |
|---|---|
| Year | 1869 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The central vignette presents a three-masted sailing vessel engraved in fine intaglio, set within an oval frame inscribed 'CANADIAN CURRENCY 1 JULY 1871'. The bank title 'THE MERCHANTS BANK OF HALIFAX' is rendered in bold letterpress across the centre, with the denomination '20' repeated in large numerals within ornate guilloche panels at left and right and vertically along both side borders. The note is dated 'Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1st October, 1869' and carries a large red overprint 'TWENTY DOLLARS', with 'SPECIMEN' stamped in black at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | P#S1177a - Issued note P#S1177b - Green overprint: CANADIAN CURRENCY, 1 JULY, 1871 |
| Comments |
The Merchants Bank of Halifax was chartered in 1864 and became one of the more aggressive maritime expansion stories of post-Confederation Canada — by the time this note was printed it had already begun pushing into central Canadian markets, a strategy that eventually saw it absorbed into the Royal Bank of Canada in 1901. The British American Bank Note Company, established in Ottawa in 1866, was still a young firm when it took on this work; the Merchants Bank was among its earliest institutional clients.
Pick 1177 is scarce. Halifax-chartered private bank notes from the 1860s rarely survived in quantity — redemption rates were high and institutional record-keeping of surviving paper was inconsistent.