$5 1917 Canadian Bank of Commerce, PMG Certified Very Fine 20

This rare, large-format 1917 five-dollar banknote was issued by the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1917, and has been independently graded and certified by PMG as Very Fine 20. Until the early 1940s, Canada's chartered banks were allowed to print their own banknotes, and most of these notes remain redeemable as legal tender today backed by the Bank of Canada.  However, the majority of the old large-sized banknotes such as this one were destroyed and replaced when small-format issues were introduced by the Bank of Canada and the chartered banks in 1935.

The Canadian Bank of Commerce, 1867–1961
The Canadian Bank of Commerce opened for business on May 15, 1867 with an authorized capital of $1 million. It opened with one office in Toronto but its growth was extremely rapid, and by 1871 there were 18 Canadian Bank of Commerce branches across Ontario, plus one in Montreal.

Expansion of the bank was a combination of opening new branches, plus acquisitions and amalgamations. In 1870, the Canadian Bank of Commerce absorbed the once-prominent Gore Bank.  Amalgamations included the Bank of British Columbia in 1901, the Halifax Banking Company in 1903, the Merchants Bank of P.E.I. in 1906 and the Eastern Townships Bank in 1912. Total assets of the bank had grown from $3 million in 1868 to $70 million in 1901, $113 million in 1906 and $246 million in 1912.

Continuing to expand during World War I, the bank's assets reached $440 million by 1918, ranking it as the third-largest bank in Canada. Like other banks, it gave considerable assistance to the government, and despite wartime operating conditions it continued to expand its business through the Second World War and the economic prosperity that followed. In 1961, the Canadian Bank of Commerce merged with the Imperial Bank to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).

Includes:
• $5 1917 Canadian Bank of Commerce, PMG Certified Very Fine 20