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5 Dollars Royal Bank of Canada
| Issuer | Royal Bank of Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Green and black intaglio-printed note with an elaborate guilloche border framing a central vignette of a large ocean liner underway at sea, rendered in fine line engraving. The bank title THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA arches across the top, with the place and date of issue BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JANUARY 3RD 1938 at lower left, and the denomination expressed both as FIVE ST. KITTS DOLLARS and its sterling equivalent £1-0-10 at upper corners and lower right. Two manuscript signatures appear at the foot, identified below as GENERAL MANAGER and PRESIDENT respectively, with the printer's imprint CANADIAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, LIMITED at the very base. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green, the reverse is dominated by a large intaglio vignette of the British Royal Arms at centre, with a lion rampant guardant to the left and a unicorn to the right supporting the crowned shield, above the motto ribbon DIEU ET MON DROIT. Flanking the arms on both sides the denomination is repeated as FIVE ST. KITTS DOLLARS THE EQUIVALENT OF £1-0-10. The design is enclosed within an intricate guilloche border, and THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA is lettered in bold serif type within a panel at the foot, with the printer's imprint CANADIAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, LIMITED below. |
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| Comments |
The Royal Bank's 1938 chartered bank notes were among the last private Canadian currency issues to see genuine circulation before the Bank of Canada's gradual monopolization of the note supply effectively ended the chartered bank era. The Bank of Canada Act of 1934 and subsequent amendments allowed existing chartered bank issues to remain legal tender but systematically squeezed them out — by 1944, chartered banks could no longer issue new notes in denominations under $5, and the Royal Bank was among the institutions that quietly wound down its circulation role in the years that followed.
Canadian Bank Note Company produced this series at its Ottawa facility, which also handled Dominion of Canada and early Bank of Canada printing — a useful detail when differentiating printer from issuer on notes that carry both institutional names.