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5 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque Ville-Marie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a fine intaglio style with a central vignette of the Montreal harbour, showing sailing ships, steamboats, and the city skyline with church spires under an open sky. To the left, an oval portrait medallion of a bearded historical figure in period dress is set within a guilloche frame, while large green numeral '5' counters appear in the upper left and lower right corners. The bank title 'LA BANQUE VILLE-MARIE' arches across the top in bold letterpress, with denomination text 'CINQ PIASTRES' and the payable city 'MONTREAL' inscribed centrally, flanked by repetitive microtext border ornamentation reading 'FIVE' along all margins. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | LA BANQUE VILLE-MARIE CINQ PIASTRES au porteur à demande MONTREAL BRITISH AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO. Montreal & Ottawa CASSIER PRESIDENT FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE |
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| Comments |
Banque Ville-Marie was a Montreal institution whose entire commercial lifespan barely spanned two decades — chartered in 1872 and collapsed in 1899 in circumstances that implicated several directors in fraud. This 5 Piastres note dates from the bank's first full year of operation, when "piastres" remained in occasional use as a French-language denomination term in Quebec despite the Dominion having adopted the dollar standard under the 1871 Currency Act.
The British American Bank Note Company, operating out of Montreal at the time, handled a significant share of Canadian chartered bank printing in this period. Pick 937 is not a common survivor — the bank's failure and subsequent receivership meant most unissued stock was destroyed.