Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Dollars = 5 Pounds
| Issuer | Bank of British North America |
|---|---|
| Year | 184x |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | P#S319 |
| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on white paper. Left vignette of a Montreal cityscape; upper centre carries a vignette of three allegorical female figures; right vignette shows a monument flanked by houses. A small supported royal arms appears at bottom centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain unprinted verso in aged brown-toned paper, bearing only manuscript annotations and handwritten numerals in ink, with a small red mark at upper right; no engraved or typeset design elements present. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Bank of British North America was chartered in London in 1836 and operated as a British joint-stock bank across the Canadian colonies — unusual in that its head office never moved to Canada. This dual-denomination note, reconciling dollars with pounds sterling at the then-standard four-dollar rate, reflects the genuine monetary confusion of the pre-Confederation period, when colonial commerce ran simultaneously on American, British, and local currency conventions.
Perkins, Bacon & Co. produced the plates in London using their steel-engraving siderographic process, the same technology that secured their contracts for postage stamps across the British Empire. The "184x" dating indicates a note completed by hand at issue, with the final digit left open at the press stage.