20 Dollars

The Bank of Prince Edward Island was a short-lived institution, chartered in 1856 and liquidated in 1881 after a series of bad loans and a general contraction of local credit. This note dates from 1872, nine years before the bank collapsed — and only one year after Prince Edward Island joined Confederation, a political shift that brought federal banking regulation closer to home and ultimately squeezed out several of the island's independent chartered banks.

The British American Bank Note Company had only recently been formed in 1866 through a merger of two earlier engraving firms, and was still consolidating its position as the dominant Canadian security printer when this note was produced. P#S1933 is scarce in any grade, partly because the bank's failure meant unredeemed notes were never systematically preserved.