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20 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Montreal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1935 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 190 x 92 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black intaglio on a green and brown guilloche underprint, with a repeated '20 TWENTY' border pattern in green along all margins. Two portrait vignettes are set at left and right: a three-quarter-facing male portrait at left and a profile portrait at right, both engraved in fine intaglio style. The central area carries the bank title 'the Bank of Montreal' in ornate lettering, below which appears 'WILL PAY TO BEARER ON DEMAND', flanked by the denomination numeral '20' in large figures; a heraldic vignette occupies the centre field. The date 'MONTREAL, 2nd JAN. 1935' and two manuscript signatures appear at the lower centre, with the printer's imprint 'Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited' at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is engraved entirely in green intaglio, with intricate guilloche lathe-work filling the side panels and corners, each incorporating the numeral '20' in multiple positions. The central vignette presents a detailed architectural view of the Bank of Montreal's head office in Montreal — a neoclassical building with a grand Corinthian colonnade — rendered with fine line engraving. The denomination 'Twenty Dollars' appears in a bold serif cartouche at the lower centre, with 'BANK OF MONTREAL' inscribed at the upper margin and the printer's name 'CANADIAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, LIMITED' at the very foot. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Montreal was Canada's oldest chartered bank and still operating its own note issue in 1935 — a situation that would end permanently in 1944 when chartered banks lost the right to issue currency under the revised Bank of Canada Act. This note belongs to the final chapter of that centuries-old private banking tradition.
Jackson Dodds served as General Manager of the Bank of Montreal from 1928 to 1942; C.B. Gordon was Chairman of the Board. The pairing of a General Manager with a Chairman rather than a President in the signature combination is relatively unusual among Canadian chartered bank issues of the period.