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| The Numismatics of Jacques Cartier.
Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) was a native of Saint-Malo in Brittany, France . A mariner most of his life, he had already made voyages to (at least) Brazil and Newfoundland before he captained three voyages of discovery to the New World . These are extensively covered in histories and school texts but briefly, they were: (1) 1534 - voyage to the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; (2) 1535/6 - voyage of discovery where the St. Lawrence River was mapped to Hochelaga (Montreal), wintered at Stadacona (Quebec City) where scurvy was a problem to his crew; (3) 1541/2 - the least known of his voyages and the least productive since under orders he was searching for the fabled region of the " Saguenay " with its gold and diamonds. Failing in this, exploration came nearly to a standstill for the next 60 years by all the European nations and the whole region north of Florida was nearly innocent of whites save for the seasonal fishermen and odd itinerant fur trader. As
Detail from a map by Pierre Descelliers, Paris , 1546 based on the voyages of Cartier. Here it is shown inverted so that its depiction of " Acadia " makes sense. The figure of Cartier, one of those inverted in the middle, is believed to be the basis of his later portraits.
for Cartier, he retired to his property in Saint-Malo and reputedly lived the life of a jolly country squire until his death. There is no absolutely authentic portrait of Cartier. What we have are no more than probabilities . His figure on the map above has been one source; another is a drawing, reputedly made from life of Cartier in "old age" (he died at 66!) by M. Dan Lailler - from it, the portrait of a younger man has been extrapolated.
Left: The sketch by Lailler, supposedly originally from life of Cartier in "old age". Right: Painting by Riss, probably adapted from the Descelier map figure; this picture is the basis of all Cartier illustrations to the present.
Bank note companies used Cartier illustrations with fair frequency but apparently only variations on two pictures. The first was the Riss portrait which may appear full length or just the head - and mirror-image when it suited their purposes. The first of the "Riss" ilustrations were by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, partial precursors of the American Bank Note Company which later used the "Riss" almost exclusively. The first efforts of RWH&E were on the face of a $5 note of "The Ontario Bank", based in Bowmanville , Ontario , issued in the year 1857. Unfortunately, no illustration seems to be available - and they may exist only as face proofs anyhow.
The next banks to use the Cartier portraits were both situated in Montreal . In 1860, the Banque Nationale issued a $1 note using the ABNCo "Riss" design, followed in 1862 by the "Banque Jacques Cartier" with a $1 note using the same design. Not unexpectedly, the second used Cartier designs extensively.
Shown below are three of the five issues by the Banque Nationale to use the Cartier design. Only the first is by the ABNCo; thereafter, the bank's notes were printed by the British American Bank Note Company in Ottawa . All the same, the BABNCo used their own adaptation of the Riss painting - in fact the vignette of Cartier's head was one of the first they produced in 1866, being "Die No. 5". The same firm was the originator of a
Top: La Banque Nationale, $1, 1860."Riss". American Bank Note Company. second Cartier design, one so highly thought of that it was even used on BABNCo share letterheads. Specifically, it was designated "Die No. 34 - Quebec " and engraved in 1872 from a drawing by White.
Left: BABNco "Die No. 5" vignette, 1866. Right: BABNCo "Die No. 34 - Quebec ", 1872. ("Riss" portrait) (vignette from a BABNCo sample sheet)
As might be expected, the "Banque Jacques Cartier" of Montreal used variations on the "Riss" design on (so far as we can tell) all its notes. These were: Issue of 1862 ($1, $2, $5, $10 - ABNCo); Issue of 1870/80 ($4, $5, $20, $50, $100 - BABNCo); Issues 1886 and 1889 ($5, $10 - Canada Bank Note Co.); Issue 1895 ($5, $10 - BABNCo). All notes of this bank are very rare, some known only as face or back proofs.
La Banque Jacques Cartier, $1, 1862. ABNCo
Top: Banque Jacques Cartier, $4, 1870. BABNCo Bottom: Banque Jacques Cartier, $5, 1886. Canada Bank Note Co.
The Riss portrait also appeared on the Province of Canada $1 notes of 1866. Although printed by the British American Bank Note Company, the plates for this denomination were engraved by the American Bank Note Company of New York , presumably using their own Riss vignette.
Dated October 1st, 1866 , these notes were individually "domiciled" to given areas, initially for Canada West ("Payable at Toronto ") or Canada East ("Payable at Montreal "). Since these notes were in current use as Confederation dawned next July 1st, further notes were domicile-overprinted for use in New Brunswick ("Payable at Saint John" on Toronto notes) and Nova Scotia ("Payable at Halifax / Only" since the Nova Scotia dollar was worth less than that of Canada-New Brunswick).
On July 1st, 1870 , these notes in turn were superceded by the first of the Dominion of Canada notes, the $1 denomination carrying the Riss portrait by BABNCo. These, too, were domiciled by reverse engraving reading "Payable Toronto/Montreal/St. John/Halifax/or Victoria. In addition, there was a " Manitoba " stamp on the appropriate $1 and $2 notes. With the 1878 issue, the portraits of all save royal family members and some later prime ministers disappeared - including Cartier.
"St. Lawrence Bank", Toronto , $5, 1872. The first use of the the " Quebec " vignette by BABNCO.
Standard Bank, $5, 1876. BABNCO " Quebec " vignette.
The St. Lawrence Bank in Toronto didn't last long, just four years 1872-6. In financial difficulty, it was allowed to change its name to the Standard Bank of Canada . It then did much better, amalgamating with the Sterling Bank of Canada in 1924 and the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1928 at the heighth of its financial power. Notes of its previous incarnation, The St. Lawrence Bank, are extremely rare (or possibly proofs only) since for a nine-month period, they were exchangeable for Standard Bank notes.
There were a scattering of other Canadian banks that used designs of Cartier. One was the Banque Ville Marie that operated only a relatively short time (1872-99). Its notes showed local scenes or heroes such as Champlain, Cartier or Maisonneuve. It suspended under a cloud of scandal but with its notes still redeemable by the federal fund set up for that purpose. Consequently, its notes are very rare today.
La Banque Ville Marie, $10, 1873. BABNCo " Quebec " vignette.
Top: Stadacona Bank, $10, 1874. "Riss" portrait, BABNCo. Bottom: Banque d'Hochelaga, $20,
Both of the two banks above derived their names from Cartier's voyages, Stadacona being the original name for Quebec City and Hochelaga that of Montreal . Both issued notes showing Cartier for the first time in 1874. The Stadacona Bank issued only one: $10 of 1874 with the BABNCo Riss portrait. It's notes are rare since it soon went broke, although it was able to redeem its banknotes. The Banque d'Hochelaga issued a $10 in the 1874 showing the same Riss by BABNCo but followed it with other tens in 1880 and 1894 as well as the $20 shown above, issue of 1914 (this one, however, by Waterlow & Sons, England, using their own Riss representation of Cartier).
Finally, we have the Dominion Bank $50 issue of 1881 using the BABNCo vignette of " Quebec ". Altogether, Cartier had appeared on the notes of nine private banks as well as two government notes.
Reverse of Cartier nickel dollar, 1984 Stamp issued 1534-1934 on 400th Anniversary
Although there have been all sorts of private medals honouring Cartier over the years, Canada officially took notice on only two occasions. On July 1, 1934 a 3-cent postage stamp was issued with the BABNCo's " Quebec " design as a theme (even though Cartier did not see Stadacona, the site of Quebec City , until the next year).
On the 450th anniversary (July 24,1984) of his first voyage to Canada , the Royal Canadian Mint struck a nickel dollar depicting Cartier planting a cross with the lilies of France on the Gasp é . The reverse was designed by Victor Cot é and engraved by Hector Greville. A total of 6,141,503 business strikes were made for ordinary circulation as well as 87,776 nickel proofs housed in a green velvet case.
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Nov 2007The Numismatics of Jacques Cartier Symbolism in the Series IV 1975 Olympic Coins
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