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5 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of British North America |
|---|---|
| Year | 184x |
| Type | Pattern or trial banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio engraving on cream paper. Left vignette shows a landscape with rocky outcrop and figures; right vignette depicts a seated female figure within a floral cartouche surmounted by a crown. Two oval guilloche panels bearing the numeral 5 flank the top centre, with SPECIMEN overprint across the central text panel. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain cream-coloured paper with no printed design, showing age-related foxing and staining consistent with a 19th-century specimen note reverse. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of British North America was chartered in London in 1836 and operated as a British imperial institution rather than a colonial one — its head office remained in London throughout, which is why Perkins, Bacon & Co. produced its notes there rather than at any of the colonial printing houses. Perkins, Bacon held a near-monopoly on security printing for British colonial currency in this period, their steel-engraved intaglio work being considered essentially unforgeable by contemporary standards.
The "184x" dating indicates the specific year was handwritten at issuance — a practice common to the series, and one that now makes precise dating of individual examples dependent entirely on manuscript completion in the date field.