Catalog
5 Dollars
| Issuer | Union Bank, Montreal |
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| Year | 1838 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black on white paper, the obverse centres on a vignette of an early steam locomotive with passenger carriages set within a wooded landscape, flanked at left and right by large ornate numeral '5' counters. The issuer's name 'THE UNION BANK' appears in bold decorative script with the promise text 'Promise to pay FIVE dollars on demand' and a manuscript date of Montreal, August 1, 1838. A secondary vignette at lower right shows a standing male figure in a rural setting, above an octagonal panel bearing the word 'FIVE', with the legend 'LOWER CANADA' completing the typographic layout. |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in orange-red and consists of a full-surface security underprint composed of intricately engraved guilloche rosettes arranged in a regular grid of three rows of seven, with no additional text, vignette, or denomination inscription present. |
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| Comments |
The Union Bank of Montreal was chartered in 1865 — which makes a note dated 1838 attributed to it worth scrutinizing carefully. No Union Bank operated under that name in Montreal in 1838; the institution that later bore that name did not yet exist. The Pick reference P#1983 falls outside standard Pick numbering conventions for chartered Canadian bank issues, which were catalogued separately under Charlton and other regional references.
Treat the issuer attribution and date with caution until provenance can be independently verified against a Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Colonial Currency or equivalent primary source.