Catalog
5 Dollars
| Issuer | Canadian Bank of Commerce |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Dark green intaglio note with a central vignette of a seated allegorical female figure, classically robed and reclining amid maritime and commercial motifs. The bank title THE CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE runs in bold lettering across the top, flanked by two numeral 5 medallions within guilloche rosettes; the words BARBADOS appear vertically on each side. The lower margin bears the place of issue BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS and the date 2ND JANUARY 1922, with two manuscript signatures below the promise text WILL PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND FIVE DOLLARS IN BARBADOS CURRENCY. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in orange-brown on a light ground, the reverse carries a large central vignette of the bank's heraldic seal — a shield with a sailing vessel, supported on each side by a standing male figure representing Commerce and Navigation. The numeral 5 appears in large guilloche-framed counters at left and right, with the word FIVE in a panel at the base. An intricate geometric lathe-work border frames the entire design. |
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| Comments |
The Canadian Bank of Commerce was one of the few chartered banks still issuing its own notes into the 1920s, a practice that persisted in Canada until the Bank of Canada's monopoly took full effect in 1935. By 1922, chartered bank circulation was already shrinking — the Dominion government had been tightening its grip on small denominations since 1868, and the five-dollar note occupied contested ground between federal Dominion notes and private bank paper.
The American Bank Note Company's New York plant handled this series, as it did for much of Canadian chartered bank production in this period. ABNCo's relationship with Canadian banks was longstanding and commercially exclusive in ways that effectively locked out British printers despite the obvious imperial connection.