5 Dollars / 1 Pound 10 Pence

The Royal Bank of Canada operated branches across the Caribbean throughout the first half of the twentieth century, and this dual-denomination note — denominated simultaneously in dollars and pounds sterling — was struck specifically for use in territories where both currencies held practical daily relevance. The twin valuation was a commercial necessity, not an affectation: British colonial subjects conducting transactions in Eastern Caribbean markets needed a note that crossed monetary systems without requiring mental arithmetic at the counter.

The Canadian Bank Note Company printed the series in Ottawa, a firm that by the late 1930s held an overwhelming share of Canadian chartered bank contract work. Pick S117 is among the last private Canadian chartered bank issues before wartime pressures and regulatory consolidation steadily ended that era of commercial note issue.