Catalog
5 Dollars = 25 Shillings
| Issuer | Niagara Suspension Bridge Bank, Queenston |
|---|---|
| Year | 1841 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1841-1858) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PAYABLE AT / THE BANK / THE NIAGARA / Suspension Bridge / Bank will pay FIVE dollars on demand / to / at / Queenston / FIVE / 5 / 5 |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted save for endorsement inscriptions in manuscript, visible in ink across the plain paper surface, consistent with the practice of early Upper Canadian private bank notes that carried no formal reverse design. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Niagara Suspension Bridge Bank was a short-lived Upper Canadian institution operating out of Queenston, a village at the base of the Niagara escarpment that had once been the principal entry point into Upper Canada before the War of 1812 reduced it to a backwater. The dual denomination — dollars and shillings — reflects the genuinely chaotic monetary arithmetic of pre-Confederation Canada, where American dollars, British sterling, and Halifax currency all circulated simultaneously and merchants priced goods in whichever unit suited them.
The bank itself was never a major issuing institution, which makes surviving notes from this 1841 series genuinely uncommon.