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5 Dollars New Orleans Canal and Banking Co.
| Issuer | New Orleans Canal and Banking Co. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1831-1895 |
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| Value | 5 Dollars (5 USD) |
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| Obverse description | At upper centre, a vignette of the numeral 5 surrounded by allegorical female figures and children; to the left, an oval cartouche enclosing a bust portrait of Benjamin Franklin; to the right, an ornate stylised numeral 5 composed of multiple decorative elements. The lower portion carries a vignette of a mermaid and fish amid water, rendered in the detailed intaglio style typical of American obsolete banknote engraving. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The New Orleans Canal & Banking Co. Will pay Five Dollars on demand to ____________ or bearer. New Orleans _______________18____ |
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| Comments |
The Canal and Banking Company was chartered in 1831 specifically to finance construction of the New Orleans Canal — a navigational cut intended to connect the city's back basin to Lake Pontchartrain. The bank outlived the canal's commercial relevance by decades, continuing to issue notes well past the point when its original infrastructure purpose had been largely superseded by rail. That longevity is unusual for a project-specific charter bank in antebellum Louisiana.
Louisiana's free banking laws and the disruptions of the Civil War and Reconstruction meant the company operated under radically different regulatory regimes across its lifespan. Notes from the later decades of the run are considerably scarcer than the antebellum issues.