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25 Cents 'Shinplaster' Dominion of Canada
| Issuer | Dominion of Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1870 |
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| Currency | Dollar (1858-date) |
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| Obverse description | Black engraved frame with intricate decorative borders enclosing a central vignette of Britannia, helmeted and bearing a spear over her shoulder. The heading reads 'THE DOMINION OF CANADA WILL PAY ON DEMAND TWENTY FIVE CENTS', flanked by numeral '25' counters on either side, with the date 'MARCH 1st, 1870' and two manuscript signatures for the Minister of Finance and the Receiver General below the vignette. The printer's imprint appears at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
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| Variants | P#8a - without plate letter P#8b - plate letter A below date P#8c - plate letter B below date |
| Comments |
The "shinplaster" nickname — applied derisively to small-denomination fractional currency — had already attached itself to American Civil War-era scrip before Canadians inherited it for their own 25-cent issues. Canada's version arrived partly because of a practical shortage of small silver coin in circulation, and partly because Confederation had only just unified the currency system. The Dominion needed something to fill the gap before coinage production could catch up.
British American Bank Note Company handled the entire production in-country, which was notable for 1870 — much government printing of the period still went abroad. The 1870 issue is Pick 8, the first of several closely related 25-cent types that continued into the 1900s, each distinguished by minor design and signature variations that create genuine attribution headaches for collectors working from circulated examples.