Newfoundland Charm Wins Big at Auction
Bank notes from the Great White North were the focus of Stack’s Bowers Galleries May 2025 Canadian Banknote Sale.
Bank notes from the Great White North were the focus of Stack’s Bowers Galleries May 2025 Canadian Banknote Sale. In over 400 lots, the auction featured notes from issues that spanned across three centuries and represented a vast selection of Canadian currency categories, including Chartered, Bank of Canada, and Dominion of Canada pieces.
Among the many pieces displaying the numismatic beauty that the country offers was a Canadian $10 Union Bank of Newfoundland note (PMG Choice Uncirculated 63 EPQ; ch #750-16-06), which sold for $ 14,400. This 1889 Canadian Charter is from the bank’s last “Dollar” series of 1889 (the bank closed in 1894 due to an economic downturn in the region) and is part of a small collection of uncirculated pieces currently known. Stack’s Bowers notes in the catalog description that this $10 is only a few serial numbers away from a similar bill in the National Currency Collection.
The importance of the sea to Newfoundland is evident throughout the note’s face. At the center is a well-detailed depiction of a sailing ship, possibly representing the easternmost Canadian province's fishing and shipbuilding industries, and at the right are two sailors hoisting sails. The marine theme continues with a beautiful portrait of a Newfoundland dog, a breed originally bred to assist sailors and now the unofficial mascot of “The Rock.”
The beauty and transportation of Newfoundland theme continued with another 1889 “Dollar” series note by the Union Bank of Newfoundland. Selling for $19,800, this Canadian $20 (PMG Choice Uncirculated 64 EPQ; ch #750-16-08) is called by Stack’s Galleries in its catalog as “simply astonishing” and “one of the finest pieces” from the bank. On the yellow-green face, two engines flank a steam train that rolls by in the center as a similarly moving locomotive sits below it. On the back is an all-blue scene of a parked steam train with crew members at work. Stack’s Bowers found that there are 13 types of this note known to the Canadian Paper Money Society Note Registry, but this variation has yet to be recorded.
For more information about the auction results, visit the Stacks Bowers website.
All images courtesy of Stack's Bowers
You may also like:
