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4 Dollars / Piastres
| Issuer | La Banque Nationale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1870 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by the bold bilingual heading 'LA BANQUE NATIONALE' beneath the provincial inscription 'PROVINCE DE QUEBEC', with the denomination 'FOUR' and 'QUATRE' rendered in large block letters at left and right respectively. A central vignette depicts a paddle-wheel steamship on a river with the Quebec cityscape in the background, framed by intricate lathe-work guilloche borders. To the left appears a classical domed monument vignette, while to the right stands a full-figure engraving of a sailor, with the serial number and date placed across the centre field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PROVINCE DE QUEBEC LA BANQUE NATIONALE FOUR DOLLARS / QUATRE PIASTRES QUEBEC POUR LA BANQUE NATIONALE INCORPORÉE PAR ACTE DU PARLEMENT FOUR QUATRE |
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| Comments |
La Banque Nationale was a Quebec institution, founded in 1859 and deeply tied to French-Canadian commercial interests. This 4 Dollar / 4 Piastres denomination reflects the bilingual monetary awkwardness of the period — "piastre" had been common French-Canadian usage for the dollar long before Confederation, and issuers in Quebec routinely carried both terms well into the 1870s to serve a clientele that hadn't fully adopted English monetary vocabulary.
The British American Bank Note Company, established in Montreal in 1866, had by 1870 absorbed much of the chartered bank printing work that previously went to American firms like the American Bank Note Company. This note is an early example of that domestic shift.