A One Of A Kind

This note is held by J and M in Vancouver.

Wish I had the money...

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In this day of computer archives and web-based research it sometimes seems in the numismatic trade that there are no new finds or discoveries. So you can imagine how surprising and refreshing it was when a Montreal coin dealer purchased a chartered bank note and was then clever enough to research and discover that it was so rare and unique that it wasn't even listed in the Charlton reference catalogue. Further investigation of the note revealed that the Bank of Canada Collection didn't even have one.

The new find is a $10 note issued by LA BANQUE DU PEUPLE dated May 1888, it is overprinted Quebec and has a grade of solid VG (very good). Founded in 1835 by Viger, deWitt and Cie, LA BANQUE DU PEUPLE was organized on the en commandite principle, whereby the twelve partners had unlimited liability while their stockholders were liable only to the extent of their equity and the bank was granted a charter in 1844. The failure of several of its debtors led to the collapse of the bank in 1895 in which creditors lost close to $2 million and that led to the collapse of many Quebec industries that had been supported by the bank.

The note was consigned to C&P's auction service in early 2006 where it didn't meet reserve. It was examined by a curator of the Bank of Canada at the recent CNA convention. There was definite interest but the price tag was just a bit more than they were willing to pay. After some phone calls and discussions, the note is now listed in the 2007 Charlton Chartered Banknote catalogue at only C$2,500 -- which is certainly not an accurate value for such a rare and unique note.

After doing some research, J&M purchased the note from the Montreal coin dealer and is pleased to provide it here for auction.

"These sorts of finds don't happen every day in this business." says J&M's Joseph Iorio. "We see many rare and hard-to-find items but not mystery notes that not even the Bank of Canada Collection contains. A very special piece indeed."