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5 Dollars
| Issuer | Zimmerman Bank, Clifton |
|---|---|
| Year | 1850 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse bears a central vignette of a suspension bridge over a river with industrial buildings in the background, rendered in fine intaglio engraving. The bold serif legend THE ZIMMERMAN BANK arches across the centre, with the denomination FIVE DOLLARS inscribed in a panel below, and the place of issue CLIFTON noted in the text. Numeral 5 counters appear in the upper corners, a lathe-work rosette at lower left bears the word FIVE, and a circular ONE MILLION DOLLARS overprint stamp is visible at lower centre, flanked by two manuscript signatures. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is largely plain, printed on aged cotton paper now heavily worn and creased, with a bold red-orange letterpress denomination counter reading FIVE at centre, show-through from the obverse design faintly visible across the field. |
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| Comments |
The Zimmerman Bank was a private institution operated by Samuel Zimmerman, the contractor and land speculator whose empire extended across the Niagara Peninsula in the early 1850s. Clifton — now Niagara Falls, Ontario — was Zimmerman's base of operations, and the bank existed largely to finance his own construction ventures, including sections of the Great Western Railway. Notes issued from Clifton were parallel instruments to the Elgin series, same underlying design plate, different place of payment printed on the face.
Zimmerman died in the Desjardins Canal railway disaster of March 1857, and the bank collapsed shortly after. Notes outstanding at that point were effectively worthless.