20 Dollars = 5 Pounds

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.