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20 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de St. Hyacinthe |
|---|---|
| Year | 1892 |
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| Currency | Dollar (1858-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse carries the bank title 'la Banque de St. Hyacinthe' in large script lettering across the upper centre, with a date inscription reading 'St. Hyacinthe, le 2 Janvier 1892' in the upper right. To the left, an intaglio vignette portrays a shepherdess with sheep in a pastoral landscape, set within an ornate frame; to the right, a standing female allegorical figure is rendered in fine engraving. The centre displays a heraldic coat of arms flanked by the bilingual denomination indicators 'VINGT' and 'TWENTY', with the legend 'PAYABLE AU PORTEUR A DEMANDE' and 'Vingt Piastres' in bold letterpress, the numeral '20' repeated in the corners throughout a guilloche border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | la Banque de St. Hyacinthe St. Hyacinthe, le 2 Janvier 1892 PAYABLE AU PORTEUR A DEMANDE Vingt Piastres VINGT TWENTY 20 CAISSIER PRESIDENT |
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| Comments |
The Banque de St. Hyacinthe was one of Quebec's chartered regional banks, operating out of Saint-Hyacinthe in the Richelieu Valley. It never grew into a major financial institution, and its note-issuing life was relatively brief — the bank failed in 1908, which means surviving paper from this issuer is genuinely limited in quantity.
The American Bank Note Company printed for dozens of Canadian chartered banks during this period, supplying engraved security printing that the smaller regional issuers couldn't source domestically at comparable quality. The 20 piastre denomination — the French-language rendering of "piastres" rather than "dollars" being a deliberate nod to the bank's francophone depositor base — was not a denomination in heavy everyday circulation, which affects survival rates in both directions: less wear, but also fewer issued in the first place.