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Canada , Land of the Greenbacks.
Although we think of "greenback" as an American term, we should note that all Canadian government paper money, from the Province of Canada 1866 issue to that of 1897, were common in that all - no matter the denomination - had faces printed black over green background and backs that were pure green. It was done this way to forestall counterfeiting and the device used, called the "Canada Bank Note Printing Tint", was a Canadian invention.
As bank notes became increasingly popular after the 1820s, more and more effort had to be expended to prevent their counterfeiting, since each note represented considerable value. Initially this was done by reliance on superior production: bank note companies hired the finest artists and engravers they could find (and paid them accordingly), used the very latest and best printing and engraving equipment, and even used special, secret, formulas for the production of their paper. But by the late 1850s, all this was being set at nought by the rise and continued development of the camera.
By this time, talented photographers with a larcenous bent were quite capable of producing a clear 1-to-1 image of a genuine bank note on a copper or mild steel plate, all conveniently mirror-imaged as a printing plate should be. From there, any careful, halfway-competent journeyman engraver could remove the lines, resulting in a near-exact copy of the original printing plate.
Bank note companies countered this with the use of colour since everything would photograph as blacks, whites and grays. Colour was added to the background before the black image was printed over it (called "tinting"); or coloured words or cartouches could be printed over the black image, the latter still showing through (called "protecting"). Unfortunately, there was not as yet any coloured ink that could not be removed by various chemical means, leaving the main image printed in inert carbon-black inks intact. Counterfeiters did this, adding their own tints or protectors as a second printing step.
In 1857, the City Bank in Montreal was being hard hit by counterfeits produced by photographic means. On March 2nd of that year, the bank's president, in a sort of desperation, penned a letter with a rather straightforward but imperative request: Was there no coloured ink as impervious to chemical removal as was the black? The letter was directed to the best source of expertise of which he was aware: Dr. Thomas Sperry Hunt, currently professor of chemistry at Laval University .
T.S. Hunt was born an American in Norwich , Connecticut in 1826. Educated at Yale University , he signed on immediately after graduation as Chemist to the Geological Survey of Canada and served in that capacity until 1872, meanwhile holding professorships in chemistry at Laval (1856-62) and McGill (1862-8). During the period 1872-8, he was professor at M.I.T. after which he returned to Canada . He was one of the acknowledged experts in geological chemistry, producing some 350 papers and several books on the subject over his lifetime. He died in 1892.
Dr. Hunt had the answer almost at hand. Yes, indeed: green sesqui-oxide of chromium could be used as a tint to produce greens of various intensities, depending on the amount added. It was as equally inert as black ink and could not be removed from paper without destroying the paper itself. On March 24, 1857 , a patent application was made for a "new Bank Note Printing Ink" of a "permanent & indestructible Color", named "Canada Bank Note Printing Tint". The patent was not for the invention of chromium sesqui-oxide (which was well known) but rather for the use to which it was to be put.
The patent was not applied for in Hunt's name. As an American citizen, he was ineligible since the Province of Canada patent laws excluded all except "British subjects" resident in Canada . Therefore, he applied through a go-between, one George Matthews, a Montreal lithographer, engraver, copper-plate printer and Canadian agent for the New York firm of "Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson" ( who would later form part of the conglomerate known as the "American Bank Note Company"). Strictly speaking, Matthews' "fronting" was illegal - but was done all the time. Nor was it unexpected that Dr. Hunt would use his services at this time; the business addresses of the two were in the same building. On April 1, 1857, patent # 715 was granted for the Tint in Matthews' name. Later events show that Hunt assigned his Canadian rights to the Tint in return for royalty payments which he collected for many years. Not much of a businessman, Dr. Hunt sold the American patent for the Tint to Tracy Edson of RWH&E "for a trifle" - considering that it was widely used on the U.S. notes during the Civil War.
Then in 1863, Dr. Hunt came up with a newer and even better tint, which he called the "Patent Lake Tint". In his patent description, he notes that "peroxyd of tin" (stannic acid) with "oxyd of chromium" are combined to form a "mineral lake"; to this base may be added various "oxyds" - gold, uranium, copper, lead, cobalt, nickel, manganese or cerium - to form a wide range of colours, shades and hues by the proportions and combinations of the additives. This was for the "production of a new printing Ink, the colour of which I claim to be insoluble and indestructible". Applied for on 18 December 1863 , Dr. Hunt could now do so in his own name since he had become a Canadian citizen two days before. Nevertheless, he soon assigned the patent to Matthews again, presumably due to their previous agreement, and when patent #1641 was granted on 13 January 1864 for the "Patent Lake Tint", it was done so in Matthews' name.
William C. Smillie George B. Burland
But no sooner had Matthews received the patent than he sold his company (January 27, 1864) to George Burland, George Lafricaine, Nathaniel Barber and George Bishop ("Burland, Lafricaine & Co.") another lithography/engraving firm that at the time was located directly next door, according to the Montreal Directory. Burland had been Matthews' manager back in 1857 when the first Tint appeared. Although initially the Tints were to remain Matthews' property, by the time the transfer was registered in November, rights to them were listed as being in Burland-Lafricaine's hands. It would make them a lot of money. Burland-Lafricaine also took over the Canadian agency for the American Bank Note Company, this company established in 1858 through merger of smaller firms, including RWH&E.
That fall, the introduction of the Bill and Law stamps caused the Canadian government to consider setting up a native firm to produce them, especially since relations between Britain/Canada and the U.S. were rather rocky - and heretofore, such engraving and production had typically been done in New York . The rumour was heard by William C. Smillie, who had spent his boyhood in Quebec City , and who became a skilled engraver with Edmonds & Jones, one of the superior smaller firms that were amalgamated into the American Bank Note Company. In 1863, he had left to seek his independent fortune and a native Canadian firm specializing in the government's engraving needs seemed just the ticket.
Smillie's overtures to the government throughout late 1864 and the following year bore little fruit until he hired the services of the same George Matthews to act as go-between with him and the government. Apparently fearing the loss of agency business, Burland-Lafricaine had reported unfavourably on the establishment of a native Canadian engraving firm in early 1865. But Smillie and Matthews were able to make a favourable presentation to the government in March 1866 to the extent that a couple of weeks later, they were verbally assured that their proposal would be accepted and that they would receive the expected government contracts. Smillie had proposed that a steel-engraving/printing firm, to be called "The British American Bank Note Company" was to be established in Ottawa within secure quarters, staffed by qualified artists, engravers and machinists, using state-of-the-art equipment and materials; further, that the production of such wares was to be done at a price 20% less than current contracts with the American Bank Note Company.
On the basis of this verbal agreement, Smillie went ahead, recruiting two top engravers - Henry Earle and Alfred Jones - from the ABNCo as well as skilled presssmen, lathe operators, plate transferrers, etc, none of whom were available in Canada. In all, about 45 persons, workers and their families, were brought to Ottawa . There, at the corner of Kent and Wellington Streets, Smillie purchased his "secure building", upgrading it to include a large walk-in vault to the tune of $12,000.
Busy with all these preparations, Smillie was aghast to learn that an attempt was afoot to usurp the entire company from under him. In April 1866, the Burland-Lafricaine group submitted their own "tender" which was nearly word-for-word that of Smillie's - with the exception of direct mention being made of their ownership of the Tints and the offer to produce for 25% less than the current American prices. They sought even to call their company "The British American Bank Note Company"! All this, despite the fact they had reported unfavourably to the government on such a firm only a month or so before, had no really talented artists or engravers, none but dated equipment and their operation in Montreal. Most government Board members found this tender "somewhat anomalous" but behind the scene cronyism was in full force.
On 23 April 1866 , the Burland-Lafricaine group gave notice in the Canada Gazette of their intention to incorporate as the "British American Bank Note Company". Smillie remained ignorant of this application until his own was filed in early May and his complaints were unavailing as government offices became "forgetful", advised "first past the wire" and so forth. But Smillie could play as well and on June 6, he and his associates applied for - and received - incorporation of the "British American Bank Note Company" as a joint stock company without the need for charter by Letters Patent.
This should have headed off the Burland effort since the laws clearly stated that no name could be incorporated that was already in use by another, but in complete defiance of the rules, the chartered incorporation of Burland's company went ahead unchecked so that nine days later, on 16 June 1866, there existed two "British American Bank Note Companys", one owned by the Smillie group, one by the Burland! And the mess got deeper as Smillie found that after his considerable expense in setting up a ready-to-go firm, the government was reneging on its promised contracts - while at the same time the "Burland BABNCo" was totally incapable of fulfilling their tender, lacking the engraving talent, machinery and even the premises!
Some time during the summer of 1866, there was a shotgun wedding between the two with considerable government pressure in the background - very much to Burland's advantage. On 7 August 1866 a merger was announced between the two; in future there to be a single "British American Bank Note Company" with W.C. Smillie as president and G.B. Burland as vice-president and manager. Each was to receive 500 shares in stock and in addition, Burland was to receive 100 shares for the use of the Tints and "good will" while Smillie was to receive a further 300 shares to cover his expenses in the company (which amounted to everything ). Burland had acquired a 43% share in a company fully set up by someone else and even though the merger agreement specifically stated that the Tints were to become the property of the new company, future documents show that this provision was not met. When the patents ran out (Green Tint in 1871, Lake Tint in 1878) and were not renewed, both were still in Burland's name - and in fact he made one unsuccessful attempt to collect extra on a BABNCo printing of Dominion of Canada notes for the use of the tint.
That fall, an entire series of Province of Canada notes appeared, all with the engraved date of October 1st, 1866 . The faces of all denominations were printed in black over the green tint and the backs of all were printed in green only. Work on their engraving had been under way for some time by the American Bank Note Company in New York but with the new British American Bank Note Company in the picture, the printing of all the notes were assigned to the latter, the ABNCo delivering the plates for the $1, $2, $5, $10 and $20. As a sort of trial balloon, both the engraving and printing of the $50, $100 and the $500 denominations were assigned exclusively to the BABNCo and the quality was judged to be at least on par with the American. Thereafter, until 1897 when the American Bank Note Company established a branch plant in Ottawa , all government work in "security printing" was done by the BABNCo.
Province of Canada , $50, Oct. 1st, 1866
Although we'll probably never know for sure, it would be interesting to speculate as to the Canadian issue that first used Hunt's Tint. In that respect, the below hold some possibilities. Since it was the City Bank of Montreal that first expressed a desperate need for protection from counterfeiting, there's an excellent chance they would have availed themselves of this Tint at the first opportunity.
Of the two notes shown, there were at least three issues. All use the same engraved plate carrying the date January 1st, 1856 . The first has been overprinted with a protector FIVE in the older, removeable ink. The printer is given as Toppan, Carpenter & Co., Montreal (although Montreal is just an agency for an American company that would later form part of the American Bank Note Company in 1858). We may presume that notes such as this were the cause of the City Bank's problems with counterfeiting via photography after the removal of the colored protector.
Top: City Bank, $5, 1.1.56 First issue with deletable FIVE protector.
Ignoring the domicile overprint of St. Catherines, the second note uses exactly the same engraved plate but this time with a new overprinted protector in Hunt's Tint green. It, too, is by Toppan, Carpenter & Co., dating its printing between April 1, 1857 (the date of the patent of Hunt's Tint) and 1858 when the American Bank Note Company was formed. It would have made use of the American patent on the Tint. Chances are good this was one of the very first uses of the Tint on Canadian notes. Oddly, this last is also known as a third issue with the printer given as the British American Bank Note Company, meaning that it was printed some time after August, 1866 no matter that January 1st, 1856 continues to be shown.
There was a slight downside to the tint: the metallic oxides made the ink somewhat abrasive. Whereas before the rule of thumb was that a printing plate was good for 25,000 impressions and a further 15,000 after some possible touch-ups, this was now reduced to 10,000 and 10,000 respectively. But then the BABNCo was paid for the replication of printing plates accordingly, so from their standpoint this was increased business. The inks were also more expensive to make but the charge for their use was set at $5 per thousand sheets of four notes, $2.50 per thousand of one- or two-note sheets. On the other hand, governments and banks were happy to pay the freight for the protection the Tints afforded. Counterfeiters weren't nearly so happy - and stayed unhappy for many years.
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Sep 2007MICC Business Directory & Press Release Renaissance of U.S. Coinage, Part 5: Weinman's Dime,1916-45. (Jennings) Canada , Land of the Greenbacks First Currency of the Free City of Danzig
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