Catalog
50 Dollars
| Issuer | Banque d'Hochelaga |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Black and pink intaglio-printed note with the bank title BANQUE D'HOCHELAGA arching across the top, flanked by the numeral 50 in each upper corner. A portrait vignette of a bearded gentleman occupies the lower left, while the central vignette presents a pastoral agricultural scene with horse-drawn farm equipment in a field, framed by fine guilloche work. To the right, a second vignette shows a standing male figure carrying a harvest basket, with the denomination inscription CINQUANTE DOLLARS across the lower centre panel. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in red, the reverse is dominated by a large central oval vignette bearing the Canadian coat of arms with multiple provincial shields arranged in an heraldic composition, surmounted by the inscription CANADA and framed by elaborate acanthus scroll work. The bank title BANQUE D'HOCHELAGA curves across the upper portion in bold lettering, while dense guilloche rosette panels fill the left and right margins. The denomination CINQUANTE appears at the lower centre. |
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| Comments |
The Banque d'Hochelaga was a French-Canadian chartered bank founded in 1873 to serve the Montreal working-class and merchant communities largely ignored by the anglophone banking establishment. By 1914 it had grown into one of Quebec's more substantial institutions, though it would eventually merge into the Banque Canadienne Nationale in 1924.
Waterlow and Sons handled the printing, as they did for a significant portion of Canadian chartered bank issues during this period — the London connection was entirely routine for dominion-era commercial paper, with security printing expertise simply not existing at the necessary scale in Canada itself. The $50 denomination was high enough that most examples saw limited teller-counter wear; institutional and wholesale transactions were their natural home.