20 Dollars

The Imperial Bank of Canada received its federal charter in 1873, making this 1876 issue among its earliest printed currency — produced just three years after incorporation and while the bank was still establishing its branch network across Ontario. The Canada Bank Note Printing Co., operating out of Montreal, handled production for numerous chartered banks during this period and was itself a relatively young firm, having consolidated from earlier engraving houses only in 1866.

High-denomination chartered bank notes of this vintage are genuinely rare survivors. Most $20 notes circulated heavily among merchants and were either worn to destruction or redeemed and pulped. The Imperial Bank itself was eventually absorbed by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in 1961, after which remaining unredeemed notes lost any redemption pathway.