Catalog
25 Dollars = 25 Piastres
| Issuer | Army Bill Office |
|---|---|
| Year | 1813 |
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| Currency | Army Bill (1813-1815) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | A. No 4791 25 D. ARMY BILL. 25 P. Twenty-five Dollars. Vingt-cinq Piastres. Army Bill Office Quebec. Issued The Bearer hereof is entitled to receive, on Demand, at the ARMY BILL OFFICE, the Sum of Twenty-five Dollars, in Government Bills of Exchange, at Thirty Days Sight, at the Rate of Exchange as fixed by Authority, or in Cash, at the option of the Commander of the Forces, with the Interest of One Farthing per Day, on the same. By Command of His Excellency The Commander of the Forces, Entered, CASHIER. DIRECTOR. REGISTERED in the Office of the Military Secretary. XXIIIII. A. No 4791 |
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| Variants | P#S118B - 17.04.1813 P#S118B - 15.06.1813 P#S118B - 02.03.1814 |
| Comments |
Army Bills were a wartime fiscal instrument, not a bank product. Authorised under the Army Bills Act of 1813, they were issued by the British military administration in the Canadas to fund the War of 1812 against the United States, at a time when specie was almost entirely absent from circulation. The bills bore interest — the smaller denominations at a fixed rate — and were accepted for government payments, which underpinned their credibility in a colony with no chartered bank until 1817.
The bilingual denomination pairing reflects the practical reality of Lower Canada's population. Printed in Quebec by order of the Commissariat, they were eventually redeemed at par, one of the few wartime paper issues in North American history to be fully honoured without depreciation.