Catalog
3 Dollars = 15 Shillings
| Issuer | Commercial Bank, Kingston |
|---|---|
| Year | 1837 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in the early American bank note style, with a central vignette of a seated female figure beside a plough and rural landscape, flanked by numeral 3 counters at upper left and upper right, the left counter incorporating a horse's head medallion within an ornate guilloche border. The issuer name 'Commercial BANK Kingston U.C.' is inscribed in bold letterpress across the centre, with the text 'Pay to Bearer for the Foreign & Domestic Exchange Company Fifteen Shillings Currency on Demand' in manuscript and printed script. The place and date 'New York, June 17, 1837' appear at lower left, with two manuscript signatures below, and the words 'New York' and 'Exchange' printed at the upper corners. |
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| Obverse lettering | New York Exchange 3 REAL ESTATE PLEDGED Commercial BANK Kingston U.C. Pay to Bearer for the Foreign & Domestic Exchange Company FIFTEEN SHILLINGS Currency on Demand New York June 17 1837 |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of Kingston was one of several Upper Canadian chartered banks that denominated notes in both dollars and shillings simultaneously — a practical necessity during the 1830s, when American silver dollars and British sterling circulated side by side in everyday commerce. The dual denomination wasn't decorative hedging; it reflected a genuine monetary ambiguity that wouldn't be resolved until Canada moved toward decimal currency in the 1850s.
Printed in New York, which supplied plate work for numerous colonial Canadian issuers who lacked domestic printing infrastructure of comparable quality.