Catalog
20 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Montreal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is engraved in a uniform dark green, with a central intaglio vignette of the Bank of Montreal's main branch building — a neoclassical structure with a grand Corinthian-columned portico — set against an open sky with figures and carriages at street level. Flanking the central vignette are large denomination numerals "20" set within ornate lathe-work panels, with the inscription "BANK OF MONTREAL" along the top border and "Twenty Dollars" along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | BANK OF MONTREAL Twenty Dollars 20 American Bank Note Co. Ottawa |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Montreal was Canada's de facto central bank for much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries — it managed government accounts and acted as fiscal agent for the Dominion long before the Bank of Canada existed. By 1914, private chartered bank currency was still entirely legal and widely used alongside Dominion government notes, a situation that would persist until the Bank of Canada Act of 1934 finally ended chartered bank issuance.
The American Bank Note Company operated a Ottawa facility that handled a significant portion of Canadian chartered bank printing in this period. This particular series is known to have suffered from ink oxidation along fold lines on circulated examples — a recurring issue with ABNC's intaglio work on Canadian contracts from this decade.