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20 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Montreal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in green intaglio, the reverse centres on a detailed architectural vignette of the Bank of Montreal's head office building on St. James Street, a neoclassical structure with a columned portico and domed roof, set against a lightly engraved sky with horse-drawn carriages in the foreground. The inscription 'BANK OF MONTREAL' arcs across the top within a scrollwork frame, and the denomination 'Twenty Dollars' appears in a plain panel at the foot of the note. Intricate lathe-work guilloche rosettes and repeated numeral '20' counters fill the four corners. |
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| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Variants | P#S550a - Issued note P#S550s - Specimen |
| Comments |
The Bank of Montreal's 1923 Dominion-era chartered bank issues came at a transitional moment for Canadian private banknote circulation. The federal government had been steadily encroaching on the chartered banks' right of issue since the 1914 Finance Act emergency measures, and by the 1930s that right would effectively end. Notes from this period were still in active commercial use but issued against tightly controlled redemption requirements under the Bank Act.
The Canadian Bank Note Company had consolidated its position as the dominant printer for chartered bank issues by this point, handling production for most of the major institutions out of Ottawa. Pick 550 is not a common survivor — $20 face value meant these circulated hard in commercial transactions and were rarely set aside.