Catalog
5 Dollars
| Issuer | Canadian Bank of Commerce, Toronto |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse, printed entirely in green, carries a central allegorical composition with two large classical figures — a male figure representing Industry or Commerce at left and a female figure representing Harvest or Agriculture at right — flanking the bank's circular coat-of-arms seal bearing a sailing ship and the inscription CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE 1867. Large intaglio numeral 5 panels appear at left and right, with the word FIVE in block lettering beneath the central seal. The overall design is framed by an intricate guilloche border with X-pattern corner ornaments. |
| Reverse lettering | CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE 1867 FIVE |
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| Comments |
The Canadian Bank of Commerce was one of several chartered banks still exercising private note-issue privileges in 1917 — a right that would survive in Canada until 1944, long after most countries had consolidated currency under central authority. The American Bank Note Company in New York handled the bulk of Canadian chartered bank printing through this period, a cross-border arrangement that attracted little comment despite wartime sensitivities about economic dependence on American firms.
The 1917 dating places this note squarely within the Dominion's wartime finance crunch, when Dominion notes and chartered bank currency were both under pressure from heavy government borrowing and Victory Loan campaigns draining liquid capital from the banking system.