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5 Dollars
| Issuer | Union Bank of Newfoundland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1889 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Central guilloche panel bears a large numeral '5' underprint flanked by two intaglio vignettes: a sailing schooner at left and a steamship at right. A cherub vignette appears at upper centre below the bank title, with the place and date 'Saint Johns, May 1st 1889' at upper right. Serial number in red at right, with Accountant and Manager signature lines at lower centre. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | UNION BANK OF / NEWFOUNDLAND / 5 / AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK |
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| Comments |
The Union Bank of Newfoundland was chartered in 1854 and remained one of the colony's two dominant commercial banks until it was absorbed by the Bank of Montreal in 1901 following a period of serious financial strain in the late 1890s. This 1889 note predates that crisis by roughly a decade, issued during a period when Newfoundland still operated as a self-governing British dominion entirely outside Canadian Confederation — a status it would retain until 1949.
The American Bank Note Company held the printing contract throughout most of the Union Bank's note-issuing history. ABNC's New York plant produced the bulk of chartered bank currency for Atlantic Canada during this period, a near-monopoly arrangement that explains the family resemblance across many colonial issues of the era.