Catalog
5 Dollars
| Issuer | Merchants Bank of Canada, Montreal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Printer | British American Bank Note Company |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in green and black with two oval portrait vignettes flanking a central steamship scene: a bust portrait of a gentleman in formal attire at lower left, and a second male portrait at lower right. A large central vignette depicts an ocean liner underway at sea. The bank title THE MERCHANTS BANK OF CANADA is inscribed in bold letters across the centre, with the denomination FIVE DOLLARS below and the promise to pay the bearer on demand. The date Feb. 1st 1916 and place of issue MONTREAL appear at the top, with red serial numbers on either side of the central vignette and the numeral 5 in ornate panels at left and right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | THE MERCHANTS BANK OF CANADA 5 BRITISH AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO. OTTAWA |
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| Comments |
The Merchants Bank of Canada was already in decline by 1916 — it would be absorbed by the Bank of Montreal in 1922 in one of Canada's more ignominious bank failures, leaving shareholders with heavy losses. Notes from the final decade of the bank's operation were still legal private banknotes under the Bank Act, which permitted chartered banks to issue their own currency in denominations of five dollars and above.
The British American Bank Note Company had been printing Canadian chartered bank issues from its Ottawa plant since the 1860s and handled most of the major bank relationships in the country by the time this note was produced. The P#1165 designation places this firmly within the BABN's wartime production period, when engraving staff and materials were under pressure from military printing contracts.