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1 Dollar = 5 Shillings
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of the Midland District |
|---|---|
| Year | 1843 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Canadian Dollar |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on white paper. Top center vignette of an Indian maiden stepping from a canoe; oval portrait of Prince Consort at left and Queen Victoria at right. Denomination and issuer inscriptions frame the central design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain unprinted reverse on aged yellowish paper stock, with no vignettes, inscriptions, or decorative elements. |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of the Midland District was one of Upper Canada's chartered banks, operating out of Kingston, Ontario during a period when colonial currency law permitted — and essentially required — local institutions to denominate notes in dual currencies. The dollar-shilling equivalence printed on this note reflects the messy monetary reality of pre-Confederation Canada, where American dollars and British sterling both circulated freely alongside local paper, and issuers had to acknowledge both systems to remain credible with the public.
Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Co. — which reorganized as Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson during this period — was the dominant security printer for North American bank notes in the 1840s, later becoming the American Bank Note Company. The uncertainty in the printer credit is a dating issue, not a production mystery: the firm changed its name around 1843, placing notes from this year squarely on the transition.