Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Dollars
| Issuer | Macdonald & Co., Bankers |
|---|---|
| Year | 1863 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central vignette of the British Royal Arms with lion and unicorn supporters, flanked by numeral 5 in scalloped cartouches at upper left and right. Lower left and right corners bear small portrait vignettes. Bold letterpress firm name MACDONALD & CO. / BANKERS across centre, with handwritten promise-to-pay text dated 6 Sept. 1863. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | MACDONALD & CO. BANKERS ESTABLISHED 1859 Victoria VANCOUVERS ISLAND. NUMBER We promise to pay the Bearer on demand at our Office here the sum of Five Dollars for value received 6 Sept. 1863 5 |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Macdonald & Co. was a private banking house operating in British Columbia during the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rush years. Private bank notes circulated freely in the colony at this period — the colonial government had not established a chartered bank with note-issuing authority, leaving the field open to merchant bankers willing to back their paper with gold dust on deposit.
Britton & Co. of San Francisco handled much of the commercial engraving and printing work for Pacific Coast businesses in this period, including trade cards, certificates, and currency for issuers on both sides of the border. The firm was not a security printer in the formal sense, which partly explains why these notes are considered quite rare today — the issuing house itself was short-lived.