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50 Dollars Canal Bank, 'Redback'
| Issuer | New Orleans Canal & Banking Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1831-1895 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio-printed note with a complex multi-vignette composition across the upper half: a central allegorical figure of Commerce or Navigation seated against a harbour scene with sailing vessels, flanked by the large numeral '50' in ornate script. Four circular portrait vignettes occupy the corners — two female portraits at upper left and upper right, two male portraits at lower left and lower right — all set within finely engraved lathe-work borders. The bold serif legend 'CANAL BANK.' runs across the centre, with the promise text in copperplate script above the denomination panel 'FIFTY DOLLARS' in heavy block letters. The outer borders carry repeated '50' and 'FIFTY DOLLARS' guilloche panels, and the printer's imprint 'Toppan, Carpenter & Co. Philad.a & New York' appears at upper right, with spaces for Cashier and President signatures at lower centre. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in red ink — the characteristic feature giving this type its 'Redback' collector designation — with three large lobed medallions arranged horizontally across the centre field. The left and right medallions each bear the numeral '50' rendered in white relief against intricate engine-turned lathe-work, while the central medallion carries a dense geometric guilloche rosette. Smaller rosette ornaments surround the medallions, and faint ghost impressions of the obverse vignettes are visible through the paper in the margins. |
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| Comments |
The Canal Bank was among the most respected antebellum financial institutions in Louisiana, surviving multiple panics that destroyed its competitors — only to be finally liquidated in the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction-era banking chaos. The unusually long date span on this series reflects reissues and reuse of original plate stock rather than continuous operation under stable conditions.
Toppan, Carpenter & Co. produced some of the finest siderographic work in mid-nineteenth-century America, and their output for Southern banks before the war is generally well-executed. The "Redback" nickname derives from the green-tinted reverses — a color choice that predates the Federal greenback by decades and caused occasional confusion in the historical record.