Catalog
5 Piastres / Dollars = 25 Shillings
| Issuer | Army Bill Office |
|---|---|
| Year | 1814 |
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| Reference(s) | P#S120D |
| Obverse description | Issued by the Army Bill Office, Quebec, dated May 1814, the note bears a repeated guilloche-style border of the word "Bon" along the left margin in alternating roman and italic type. The central text reads "FIVE Dollars, redeemable at this Office, by Government Bills of Exchange on London, at Thirty Days Sight," with an authorization line reading "By Order of the Commander of the Forces." The denomination is expressed trilingually at top and bottom as "Bon pour CINQ Piastres," "Five Dollars," and "25 Shillings," with series letter "K" and number designation. |
|---|---|
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| Variants | P#S120Da - issued note P#S120Dr - remainder |
| Comments |
Army Bills were a wartime financing instrument, not a colonial banknote in any conventional sense. The British Army Bill Office at Quebec issued them from 1813 onward to pay troops and contractors during the War of 1812, when specie was chronically short across the Canadas. The unusual triple denomination — piastres, dollars, and shillings — reflects the genuine monetary chaos of the period: Lower Canada circulated Halifax currency, American dollars, and Spanish milled dollars simultaneously, and the bills had to speak to all three systems.
The 1814 issues were redeemed in full by 1820, earning the Army Bill Office a rare distinction in early North American financial history — a wartime paper currency that actually paid out at face value.