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4 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Brantford, Sault St. Marie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1859 |
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| Currency | Dollar (1858-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black with an orange-red guilloche border and corner numerals '4'. A central vignette occupies the upper middle register, portraying an industrial mill scene with horse-drawn wagons and workers in a landscape setting. To the lower left is an engraved portrait of a bearded gentleman in formal attire, and to the lower right a portrait of a young woman with flowers in her hair. The issuer's name 'Bank of Brantford' appears in large script across the centre, with the denomination 'FOUR DOLLARS' and branch designation 'Sault St. Marie' inscribed below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANK OF BRANTFORD FOUR DOLLARS Sault St. Marie Will pay to bearer on demand For the Bank of Brantford INCORPORATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT, PROVINCE OF CANADA American Bank Note Company FOUR DOLLARS |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Brantford was a short-lived Upper Canadian institution, and the Sault St. Marie payable clause on this note reflects a common practice among Ontario chartered banks of designating branch payment locations on notes printed in a single unified run. The American Bank Note Company in New York handled much of the quality chartered bank work for Canadian issuers during this period — domestic Canadian security printing capacity was limited, and ABNC had both the equipment and the engraving talent.
The four-dollar denomination is characteristically North American. It appears nowhere in British or European currency traditions but was widespread in pre-Confederation Canada and the northern United States, where it corresponded to the Spanish milled dollar arithmetic still embedded in commercial practice.