Catalog
20 Dollars
| Issuer | Royal Bank of Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company, New York, United States |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on blue guilloche underprint with red serial numbers. Central vignette of Britannia seated with shield and lion, flanked by black overprints reading BARBADOS at left and right, with a vertical overprint PAYABLE AT BRIDGETOWN BARBADOS at centre. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 20 ROYAL BANK OF CANADA HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE DIEU ET MON DROIT (Translation: Shamed be the one who thinks ill of it. God and my right.) |
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| Comments |
The Royal Bank of Canada was still headquartered in Halifax when this series was designed, having only recently relocated its operational center to Montreal. The 1909 chartering period saw several Canadian chartered banks commissioning high-denomination notes from ABNC simultaneously, making differentiation between contemporaneous issues a matter of close scrutiny for collectors today.
Chartered bank notes in Canada remained legal tender alongside Dominion of Canada government issues until the Bank of Canada Act of 1934 forced private banks out of the currency business entirely. This note predates that transition by a quarter century.