5 Dollars

The Bank of British North America was a London-chartered institution operating across the pre-Confederation and early post-Confederation colonies, and its Ottawa branch notes occupy an unusual place in Canadian monetary history — issued across a window that straddles 1867, meaning some of these notes circulated under colonial status and others under the new Dominion framework, with no change to the paper itself.

The American Bank Note Company in New York handled production for numerous Canadian issuers during this period, a practical arrangement given the relative scarcity of high-security printing infrastructure north of the border at the time.

ABNC's contract work for British colonial banks frequently reused engraved elements across different clients, worth bearing in mind when assessing plate originality.