3 Dollars

The Commercial Bank of Canada had branches scattered across Ontario, and Collingwood — a Georgian Bay port town that had only incorporated as a village in 1858 — was an unlikely place for a chartered bank to be issuing notes. The branch was capitalizing on the town's sudden growth after the arrival of the Northern Railway terminus in 1855, which transformed the harbour into a significant grain and lumber shipping point.

The three-dollar denomination was standard in mid-nineteenth century Canadian branch banking, designed to slot between the two and four dollar notes and reduce the need for silver in everyday transactions. Lawson Bank Note Company printed for several Ontario issuers during this period before the larger American security printers consolidated the Canadian market.