Catalog
5 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque d'Hochelaga |
|---|---|
| Year | 1911 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Piastres |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark green with an elaborate guilloche underprint covering the entire surface. Two large numeral-5 medallions in oval guilloche frames are positioned at left and right, while the centre bears the Canadian Dominion coat of arms within an oval cartouche inscribed PUISSANCE DU CANADA. The bank name BANQUE D'HOCHELAGA is lettered along the lower margin, with the printer's imprint AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, OTTAWA appearing below it. |
| Reverse lettering | BANQUE D'HOCHELAGA PUISSANCE DU CANADA AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, OTTAWA |
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| Comments |
The Banque d'Hochelaga was a French-Canadian chartered bank founded in Montreal in 1873, and by 1911 it was one of the more aggressive regional competitors to the established English-Canadian banking houses. It survived intact through the pre-war period before eventually merging into what became the Banque Canadienne Nationale in 1924.
American Bank Note Company's Ottawa plant — established specifically to handle Canadian chartered bank business — produced this note. The "5 Piastres" denomination wording is the detail worth pausing on: Quebec-based banks continued using "piastres" in their French-language text long after the term had effectively vanished from English-Canadian usage, a linguistic holdout with no monetary significance but considerable cultural stubbornness behind it.