Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Dollars
| Issuer | Ontario Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1888 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1858-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black with a salmon-pink guilloche underprint. Two allegorical vignettes flank a large central lathe-work oval bearing the denomination numeral "50" in intaglio: at left, a seated female figure rests amid marsh reeds, and at right, a male figure reclines beside an anchor against a pastoral shoreline. The issuer's name "ONTARIO BANK" appears in bold block lettering across the upper centre, with the legend "DOMINION OF CANADA" above, and the date "TORONTO, 1st June, 1888" at lower right beneath the promise to pay inscription "WILL PAY TO BEARER... FIFTY DOLLARS ON DEMAND." |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ONTARIO BANK 50 AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, NEW YORK |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Ontario Bank was a mid-tier Canadian chartered bank headquartered in Oshawa, operating under Dominion charter from 1857 until its failure in 1906 — one of the more embarrassing Canadian bank collapses of the Edwardian period, triggered by fraud and insider lending. Notes issued in the final years before collapse are survivable, but the high denominations circulated in far smaller quantities and were typically retired quickly through interbank clearing rather than public hands.
ABNC's contract work for Canadian chartered banks in this period was prolific. Attribution to the New York plant is straightforward from the imprint, not the design lineage.