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5 Dollars / Piastres
| Issuer | Bank of Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1818-1823 |
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| Value | 5 Dollars / Piastres |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Early Canadian colonial note with a central vignette of a seated female allegorical figure in a landscape, flanked by two oval counters bearing the numeral 5 at left and the Roman numeral V at right, with the issuer's name 'Bank of Canada' rendered in ornate script across the centre. The promise-to-pay text is hand-lettered in copperplate script, referencing Montreal as place of issue. The left margin carries a vertical 'CINQ PIASTRES' inscription, and the note bears manuscript serial number, date, and two manuscript signatures of the Cashier and President at the lower register. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The President Directors and Company of the Bank of Canada promise to pay the bearer FIVE dollars on demand out of the Joint Funds of the Association and no other Montreal CINQ PIASTRES Cash: Pres: |
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| Comments |
No Bank of Canada existed until 1934. Notes issued under that name in 1818–1823 almost certainly originate from one of the early Montreal-based private chartered banks — likely the Bank of Montreal, which received its charter in 1817 and began issuing bilingual dollar/piastre notes almost immediately. The dual denomination wording reflects Lower Canada's practical reality: a French-speaking population that calculated in livres and piastres alongside an anglophone merchant class working in dollars.
The Pick reference P#1593 does not correspond to any entry in standard Krause/Pick cataloguing for the Bank of Canada series, which begins decades later. Verify the issuing institution before listing.