1881 Ontario Bank

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I have an interesting 19th century document shown in the following image (post continues below)...

{http://www.give-a-buck.com/ebid/cheques/1881ontario.jpg}

This is called a "Second of Exchange" though I don't understand what that means.  I did some web searching and found that it is sort of like a cheque, but that's about all I understand.  Does anyone else have any information about how these documents were transacted?  Was it just for currency exchanges?

Notice that below the vignette are the words "PAID UP CAPITAL $3,000,000."  That's very interesting because notes of the 1882 series of this institution declare a capital of only $1,500,000.  Ditto for the 1888 series.  The bank's capital was $2,000,000 on the 1870 series of notes.  That made me wonder if this document is legitimate or fake.  The quality of the engraving is low.  Well, lower than a lot of notes for the time.

It is difficult to tell if this is real or fake. However, of this series, there seems to be more counterfeits out there than real documents.

Really?  You've seen and handled more exchange notes like this?

It looks genuine to me.  
A Bill of Exchange worked much like a draft, in which one party directs a second party(with whom the drawer had an account or a commitment) to pay money to a third party.  They were prepared in triplicate (1st, 2nd and 3rd of exchange) and sent by different ships.  The first to arrive was paid; the others would then be ignored if and when they arrived.  This was to ensure payment even if a shipwreck or other mishap occurred.  As single-use items they weren't printed to the same high standard as bank notes.
Ontario Bank Bills of Exchange don't turn up as often as those of some other banks.

I have not seen many myself (only at auctions and those of a friend). However, I have a friend who collects those types of documents and I would consider him an expert in the field. I discussed this one with him and he said that two thirds of the ones that come available for sale are fakes (except for the best auction houses).

Thanks, Bob!
It's easy to forget that transportation and communication over large distances was not a simple process in those days.  Now it makes perfect sense to me.
Indeed, I wonder why someone would want to fake a one-use document.
Let's hope the CP union doesn't strike or shipping will become a headache like it was back then 

QUESTION: "I wonder why someone would want to fake a one-use document".

REPLY: "One use documents are often easer to fake. They fake them for profit (same as all counterfeiters)".

Actually, now that I rub my neurons together, I realize that every counterfeit document is a one-use document... to the counterfeiter trying to pass it, anyway.
Well, I'm confident that it's not a counterfeit because it appears too genuine at least to me.  If anyone can point out specifically what this document has that makes it seem less than genuine, the stage is yours.