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2 Dollars = 10 Shillings
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of the Midland District |
|---|---|
| Year | 1843 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio engraving on white paper. Central top vignette shows seated Britannia and Agriculture; oval portrait of Prince Albert (Prince Consort) at left, oval portrait of Queen Victoria at right. Bank title and dual denomination in dollars and shillings appear in the surrounding text panels. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain yellow-tinted paper with no printed design elements visible; reverse appears unprinted or bears only a light paper tint. |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of the Midland District was one of Upper Canada's chartered banks, operating out of Kingston. This note carries a dual denomination — 2 Dollars and 10 Shillings — reflecting the awkward monetary reality of pre-Confederation Canada, where American dollars and British sterling circulated simultaneously and no single standard had yet won. Banks were forced to quote both to remain usable on either side of that divide.
Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Co. and its successor firm Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson were among the most prolific bank note engravers working out of New York in this period, supplying plates to Canadian chartered banks that lacked domestic printing infrastructure capable of producing secure currency.
The bank itself failed in 1887.