5 Dollars

The Exchange Bank of Toronto was a short-lived institution — chartered but operating under persistent capital constraints throughout the 1850s. This note predates the Bank Act consolidations that would eventually force smaller Upper Canadian banks either into merger or closure, and few of these early Toronto private bank issues survived in any quantity.

Cotton substrate was essentially universal for Canadian chartered bank paper of this period, but the print quality among smaller issuers varied considerably depending on whether they contracted a Montreal or New York engraving house. Worth knowing before attributing any plate anomalies to damage rather than original production.