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4 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Acadia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1872 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 4 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE BANK OF ACADIA WILL PAY ON DEMAND FOUR NOVA SCOTIA 4 Cash Pres. |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green. Large central guilloche rosette with intricate lathe-work surround dominates the design. BANK OF ACADIA arches above the central medallion, with NOVA SCOTIA below. Oval panels bearing FOUR in white relief on green ground flank the central device at left and right, with a small denomination numeral 4 in each outer corner. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Acadia was a short-lived Nova Scotia institution, and its paper reflects the cautious optimism of Maritime banking in the early 1870s — a period when small regional banks still believed they could compete against the expanding chartered giants. The $4 denomination itself is a relic of the pre-Confederation Halifax currency system, which ran on a pound-shilling base that produced awkward decimal equivalents when Canada moved to dollars and cents in 1871. Four dollars equaled one pound Halifax currency exactly, which kept the denomination commercially useful in the Maritimes long after it had vanished elsewhere.
The British American Bank Note Company had only recently consolidated in Montreal, having formed in 1866 from the merger of two rival engraving firms. This note is among their earlier production runs under the unified name.