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20 Dollars
| Issuer | Union Bank of Canada, Quebec |
|---|---|
| Year | 1886 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#S1485 |
| Obverse description | Black and red intaglio on white paper with a salmon-red guilloche underprint bearing repeated '20' numerals across the centre. The central vignette presents an agricultural scene with two figures restraining a rearing horse, flanked left by a seated classical female allegory and right by a town landscape with a church spire; large ornate '20' counters occupy both upper corners within lathe-work medallions. The bank title arcs across the upper margin alongside the place and date of issue, with the denomination rendered in script as 'Twenty Dollars' beneath the central vignette. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | UNION BANK OF CANADA QUEBEC 2ND AUG. 1886 WILL PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND Twenty Dollars 20 XX CASHIER PRESIDENT |
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| Comments |
The Union Bank of Canada had its roots in Quebec City, where it was chartered in 1865 as the Union Bank of Lower Canada before rebranding a decade later. By 1886 the bank was expanding aggressively into Ontario and the west, and the American Bank Note Company's New York engraving plant was the prestige choice for Canadian chartered banks wanting notes that would inspire confidence at the teller window — difficult to counterfeit, immediately recognizable as serious paper.
The $20 denomination was a substantial sum in 1886 Canada, rarely handled by ordinary depositors. Notes at this level moved between merchants, brokers, and bank branches rather than through daily retail trade, which partly accounts for the relative scarcity of high-grade survivors in this series.