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20 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Montreal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#S540 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is engraved in dark green, centred on a detailed intaglio vignette of the Bank of Montreal's neoclassical head office in Montreal, its columned portico faithfully rendered with horse-drawn carriages in the foreground. Large numeral '20' vignettes occupy the left and right panels within intricate guilloche underprint work, and the denomination 'Twenty Dollars' appears in a panel below the architectural scene. The imprint of the American Bank Note Company is present at the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | BANK OF MONTREAL Twenty Dollars XX 20 American Bank Note Company |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Montreal was Canada's de facto central bank through much of the nineteenth century, holding federal government deposits until the Bank of Canada's creation in 1935. By 1912, that privileged position was already being contested, but the bank remained the largest chartered institution in the country and continued issuing its own notes under the Dominion's chartered bank system — a privately issued currency arrangement that persisted until 1944 when chartered bank notes were phased out entirely.
The American Bank Note Company's New York plant handled a substantial share of Canadian chartered bank production during this period. ABNC and its predecessor firms had cultivated deep ties with Canadian institutions going back decades, and the fine-line intaglio work on this series reflects that mature production relationship.