Catalog
5 Shillings
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of New Brunswick, Miramichi |
|---|---|
| Year | 1837 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on white paper. Two octagonal "5/ CHECK 5/" counters flank a central vignette of a royal coat of arms supported by allegorical figures, with a landscape scene below. The lower portion carries the bank title "The Commercial Bank of New Brunswick" in bold serif lettering, with manuscript branch date and denomination "Five Shillings" in script. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Reverse printed with an interlocking series of lathe-work circular guilloche patterns in green ink, intended to deter counterfeiting. |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of New Brunswick was chartered in 1834, one of several short-lived provincial institutions attempting to fill the credit vacuum left by the near-total absence of British North American branch banking east of Halifax. The Miramichi branch designation is significant — the region was then dominated by the timber trade, and demand notes like this one circulated primarily among mill operators, lumber agents, and the merchants who served them rather than through any formal clearing system.
Commissioning the New England Bank Note Company in Boston was the practical choice for Maritime banks in the 1830s; engraving capacity in the colonies was essentially nonexistent. The guilloche underprint, still a relatively recent anti-counterfeiting innovation at the time, reflects Boston's more advanced security printing capabilities.
The bank failed in 1839, just two years after this note's issue date.