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20 Dollars = 5 Pounds
| Issuer | Bank of Montreal |
|---|---|
| Year | 18xx |
| 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 | Rectangular |
| 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 printing on white paper. Seated Indigenous figure vignette at left, central vignette of a seated allegorical woman with crowned shield, and Justice vignette at right. Imprint reads MONTREAL. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain yellow-orange paper back, largely unprinted, with a narrow strip of the obverse printing visible along the lower edge in mirror image, and four cancellation punch holes along the bottom margin. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Montreal's dual-denomination note — expressed simultaneously in dollars and pounds sterling — reflects the genuine monetary confusion of pre-Confederation Canada, where British pounds, American dollars, and various colonial currencies circulated in uneasy parallel. The equivalence of $20 to £5 was fixed at the rate of four dollars to the pound, a Halifax rating that colonial banks used as a practical anchor before Canada adopted decimal currency in 1858.
Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Co. in New York were among the most technically accomplished bank note printers working in North America at the time, and the Bank of Montreal was one of their significant clients before the business eventually evolved into the American Bank Note Company in 1858.