Catalog
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| Issuer | Colonial Bank of Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1859 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 4 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | FOUR DOLLARS • FOUR DOLLARS • FOUR DOLLARS • FOUR DOLLARS THE COLONIAL BANK OF CANADA Will pay FOUR Dollars to the Bearer on Demand Toronto May 1st 1859 CAPITAL $2,000,000 INCORPORATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT For the Colonial Bank |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | FOUR DOLLARS • FOUR DOLLARS • FOUR DOLLARS • FOUR DOLLARS THE COLONIAL BANK OF CANADA FOUR Dollars FOUR CAPITAL $2,000,000 |
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| Comments |
The Colonial Bank of Canada was a short-lived institution, chartered in 1859 and absorbed into the Canadian banking consolidation that followed Confederation. This $4 denomination reflects a pre-Confederation quirk: Canadian banks in the late 1850s still issued notes in non-decimal values, a hangover from the era when currency circulated in pounds, shillings, and dollars simultaneously. The $4 note slotted neatly against the £1 sterling equivalent at the then-common rate of four dollars to the pound.
American Bank Note Company, by 1859 freshly formed from the merger of several competing New York security printers, held a near-monopoly on Canadian chartered bank work at this period.