5 Dollars

The Federal Bank of Canada was chartered in 1874 and collapsed in 1888 — a fourteen-year run that ended in failure, with depositors taking losses and the note issue redeemed at a discount. Surviving notes from this issuer are scarce partly because of that messy wind-down; redemption was incomplete, and the records are thin.

The British American Bank Note Company had only recently been formed when this note was printed, established in 1866 through a merger of two earlier engraving firms. Their early Canadian chartered bank work is generally well-executed, and the Federal Bank series is no exception to that standard.

Pick S1783 places this firmly in the chartered bank private issue category — not a Dominion of Canada government note, and carrying no legal tender status.