Catalog
4 Dollars/Piastres = 1 Pound = 20 Shillings
| Issuer | New Castle District Loan Company, Peterborough |
|---|---|
| Year | 1836 |
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| Currency | Dollar (1858-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black on white paper and carries the issuer's name 'The New Castle District Loan Company' in an arc across the top, flanked by the words 'UPPER' and 'CANADA'. A central vignette presents a bust portrait of a gentleman in early 19th-century dress, framed by allegorical figures including a lion and an eagle to either side. Denomination counters appear in each corner — with Roman numeral 'IIII' tablets at upper left and right, circular vignettes at lower left (cattle scene inscribed 'ONE POUND') and lower right (seated figure inscribed 'QUATRE PIASTRES'), and the numeral '4' rendered in large letterpress at mid-left and mid-right; the promissory text reads 'Promise to pay to bearer at their Office in Peterborough Twelve months after date TWENTY Shillings Currency' with a manuscript date of 13 August 1836 and manuscript signatures for Cashier and President. |
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| Obverse lettering | THE NEW CASTLE DISTRICT LOAN COMPANY UPPER CANADA No 4 IIII ONE POUND QUATRE PIASTRES TWENTY SHILLINGS CURRENCY Promise to pay to bearer at their Office in Peterborough Twelve months after date For value received Peterborough Cash. Pres. |
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| Comments |
The New Castle District Loan Company was one of dozens of short-lived Upper Canadian loan and district companies chartered in the 1830s under a permissive colonial framework that briefly allowed non-bank institutions to issue circulating notes. The Peterborough operation was modest — the company's paper was essentially a local credit instrument, and the triple-denomination inscription (dollars, piastres, and pounds sterling equivalent) reflects the genuinely chaotic currency arithmetic of pre-Confederation Ontario, where American dollars, British sterling, and the old Halifax currency system all circulated simultaneously and required constant mental conversion.
Most notes from these district loan companies were redeemed or cancelled within a few years; provincial banking reforms in the late 1830s and early 1840s effectively ended their note-issuing lives.