3 Dollars = 15 Shillings

The Bank of Montreal was chartered in 1817 and became the closest thing British North America had to a central bank for much of the nineteenth century. This dual-denomination note — expressing value simultaneously in dollars and shillings — reflects the monetary confusion of pre-Confederation Canada, where Halifax Currency, York Currency, and dollar reckoning all competed in daily commerce. The precise shilling equivalent printed here, fifteen, aligns with the Halifax Currency standard at five shillings to the dollar.

By the 1850s the dollar had effectively won, and notes denominated in shillings were phased out entirely following currency standardization in the Province of Canada.