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5 Dollars Canadian Bank of Commerce
| Issuer | Canadian Bank of Commerce |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars |
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| Obverse description | Central intaglio vignette of a reclining allegorical female figure holding a stringed instrument, set within an arched guilloche frame with ornate floral cornerpieces bearing the numeral 5. The denomination '5 DOLLARS IN TRINIDAD CURRENCY' appears in elaborate foliate cartouches at left and right, with 'TRINIDAD' printed vertically along both lateral borders. The imprint 'PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD' appears at lower left and the date '1ST MARCH 1921' at lower right, with two manuscript signatures below for President and General Manager. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | FIVE / THE CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE / EST. 1867 |
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| Comments |
The Canadian Bank of Commerce was one of the major chartered banks operating under the Bank Act, which permitted private note issue well into the twentieth century — Canada didn't centralize currency issuance under the Bank of Canada until 1935, and chartered banks retained the right to circulate their own notes until 1950. The 1921 series came at a complicated moment: post-war deflation had hammered commodity prices, and western agricultural regions were under serious financial strain.
The American Bank Note Company operated a Ottawa plant specifically to handle Canadian chartered bank work, keeping sensitive currency printing domestic rather than routing it through their New York facility as had been common in earlier decades.