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4 Dollars
| Issuer | Dominion Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1876 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1858-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central allegorical vignette of a seated female figure — likely representing Commerce or Britannia — flanked by cherubs and surrounded by an ornate guilloche underprint. Portrait vignettes of a young woman appear in both the left and right panels. The denomination numeral '4' is printed in each upper corner, with the charter seal of the Dominion Bank visible at center, and the text 'FOUR DOLLARS' in bold letterpress along the lower margin beneath the central vignette. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE DOMINION BANK PROVINCE OF ONTARIO TORONTO WILL PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND FOUR DOLLARS 4 1st June 1876 |
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| Comments |
Four-dollar denominations were a practical fixture in mid-nineteenth-century Canadian private banking — the sum equated to one Spanish milled dollar and three shillings Halifax currency, which remained a useful unit of account long after decimal currency was formally adopted in 1858. The Dominion Bank, chartered in 1871 and operating initially out of Toronto, introduced this note in its early years of operation before the federal government's gradual squeeze on chartered bank note-issuing privileges began to reshape denominations toward more standardized values.
The American Bank Note Company was by then the dominant supplier to Canadian chartered banks, with established intaglio facilities in New York doing the heavy production work. The $4 denomination would not survive long into the following decade.