Skip to content
  • FR
FR
  • About us
    Building, illuminated glass towers on either side of an old, square, stone building.

    About us

    We're here to help you understand what the Bank of Canada does and how it matters to you.

    About the Bank of Canada

    Find out what the Bank does, who runs the Bank and how it is separate from the political process.

    Connect with us

    We'd love to hear from you! Contact us by email, phone or mail—or join us on social media.

  • Visit

    Visit

    • Plan your visit
    • Accessibility and special needs
    • Code of conduct
    • COVID-19 protocols

    Plan your visit

    Here's what you need to know, how to make the most of your visit and where to find us.

    Winterlude 2023

    Winterlude Weekends 2023

    From February 3 to 20, 2023: Join us every Saturday and Sunday throughout Winterlude for interactive family activities!

  • Explore

    Exhibitions

    • Permanent exhibition
    • Special exhibitions
    • Travelling exhibitions
    • Past exhibitions

    Blog

    Collection

    • About the Collection
    • Collection Services
    • Canadian Bank Notes Series
    • Search the Collection

    New Acquisitions—2022 Edition

    It’s a new year—the perfect time to look back at some notable artifacts the Museum added to the National Currency collection from 2022. Each object has a unique story to tell about Canada’s monetary and economic history.

  • Learn

    Learn

    • Activities and games
    • Education blog
    • External resources
    • Lesson plans
    • School programs
    • Video discussion guides

    Needs or wants? That is the question!

    Do you need it, or do you want it? That’s an important question to ask before buying anything. This activity is designed to teach kids how to prioritize their needs and wants, and how to make informed choices when shopping.

    A triangular object with a translucent background.

    The Bank of Canada Museum’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Economics

    We want to celebrate great teaching about the economy. Learn more about the award, submit a nomination, and meet the 2022 winners.

  • Home
  • The Museum Blog

The Canadian Roots of the “Greenback”

By: Graham Iddon


February 8, 2019

It’s all there in green and white

The roots of the name “greenback” reach back to the American Civil War. A little-known fact is that the anti-counterfeiting ink that inspired the nickname was invented in Canada.

What’s in a name?

In Raymond Chandler’s 1953 novel The Long Goodbye, private detective Philip Marlowe receives a letter with “…a portrait of Madison in it.” Huh? Marlowe is referring to the $5,000 bill featuring an engraving of former US President James Madison.

American $5,000 bill

This note would have been used by banks but not the public. In today’s money, it would be worth over US$90,000. Image: Wikimedia commons

 

The American vernacular of Chandler’s day was full of nicknames for paper currency, such as “folding money,” “c-notes,” “centuries,” “sawbucks,” “bills,” “Benjamins,” “Jacksons” or “Lincolns.” The most enduring of these terms is “greenbacks.” The roots of that name reach back to the American Civil War, when the US government issued notes that carried a large, complex, green geometric pattern on the back—hence, “greenback.” A little-known fact is that the anti-counterfeiting ink that inspired the nickname was invented in Canada.

A photo opportunity for a counterfeiter

Bank notes of the early to mid-19th century were generally printed with black ink. Successfully counterfeiting a bank note in those days required an engraver with reasonably high talent and very low ethics.

Bank of Tennessee $2 bank note

This note was typical of the pre-Civil War era. It was one-sided and printed with black ink. 2 dollars, Bank of East Tennessee, USA, 1850, NCC 1979.175.54

 

But the invention of photographic printing changed that—at least the bit about talent. With a camera, counterfeiters could quite easily reproduce a convincing bank note without the effort of engraving printing plates.

Recently several attempts to counterfeit bank notes by means of photography have been successful; and this fraud has not been confined to bank notes—other valuable documents having been copied in a similar manner.

The Photographic News, October 22, 1858

Security printers responded by adding coloured inks to their notes. Counterfeiters then removed the coloured ink, photographed the remaining black portions and used a secondary process to reprint the coloured areas. The security printers’ next move was to look for a coloured ink that was difficult, if not impossible, to remove from a legitimate bank note. And that sought-after ink came from Canada.

black and white photo of Hunt

Thomas Sterry Hunt was an American, but he created his security ink in a Canadian lab. Image: Wikimedia, c. mid-19th century

 

Canadian content

Dr. Thomas Sterry Hunt invented the ink while teaching at Laval University in Québec in 1857. It was developed in response to an appeal by the President of the Montreal City Bank, whose notes were being counterfeited. Called “Canada Bank Note Tint,” the ink was an “anhydrous sesquioxide of chromium.” For those of us without a PhD in chemistry, this means that chromium was super-heated in a near oxygen-free environment, where it would decompose. The resulting material was then mixed with linseed oil to make ink in a green shade similar to oxidized copper. This ink turned out to be extremely resistant to almost any attempt to chemically or physically remove it from paper. Because Hunt wasn’t a British subject, he wasn’t allowed to patent the ink. George Matthews, a chemist with the Montreal City Bank, filed the patent on Hunt’s behalf and forwarded him the royalties.

Ontario Bank $1 bill

The Ontario Bank was founded in Bowmanville, Ontario in 1857. This is among the earliest Canadian notes to use the “Canada Bank Note Tint.” 1 dollar, Ontario Bank, Upper Canada, 1857, NCC 1963.43.1

 

An indestructible ink?

An anti-counterfeiting organization had the ink tested by a number of well-known chemists. John Torrey, a Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, certified that, “The green compound is insoluble and indestructible by all chemical agents, except such as will destroy the paper itself.” Chemist Wolcott Gibbs of the Free Academy of New York discovered that the ink could be removed by boiling the note in concentrated oil of vitriol—better known as sulphuric acid. Finally, chemist Charles T. Carney discovered a way to remove the green ink while leaving the rest of the note untouched.

So, in August 1857, the Executive Committee of the Association of Banks for the Suppression of Counterfeiting voted, unanimously, that the Executive Committee cannot recommend to the associated banks the Patent Green Ink.

Still, US bank note printers were sufficiently impressed with the ink to use it on the US government’s Civil War bank notes—most notably on the back.

US $1 bill front side

The first $1 greenback featured an engraving of the US Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Portland Chase. 1 dollar, United States, 1862, NCC 1966.98.2424

US $1 bill, back side

Money that comes with rules. Note this greenback’s limitations of use printed in the medallion on the back. 1 dollar, United States, 1862, NCC 1966.98.2424

 

The birth of the greenback

These notes, soon christened as “greenbacks,” were created to help fund the Union effort in the American Civil War. Like today’s bank notes, greenbacks were fiat money and not exchangeable for gold at a bank. They were, however, legal tender that could be used to buy everyday goods, pay debts or taxes and buy government bonds. During the war, greenbacks displaced most of the state-bank notes, which had dominated the economy until then. And “greenback” proved to be a sticky name, eventually referring to any American bank note.

Ever since then, the back of most US government bank notes has been printed in green. Even on today’s more colourful series, the vignettes on the back of US bank notes are still that familiar colour of long tradition. They’re just not printed with “Canada Bank Note Tint.”

US $100 bill

It’s hard to say whether American money would look like this if it hadn’t been for a nickname given to a series of Civil War notes. 100 dollars, United States, 2009, NCC 2016.58.1

 

So, the next time you are in the United States and pull out a greenback, take a look at the illustration of the great American icon on the back and remember that, in spirit at least, you’re looking at a tiny bit of Canada.

We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s): Blog posts

Subscribe to The Museum Blog
The Museum Blog

August 30, 2018

Happy Birthday, Dear Bank of Canada Museum!

By: Graham Iddon


A little grade 8 math revealed that, since our last full year of operation, we have increased Museum attendance by 91 per cent (pause while the audience claps).
Content type(s): Blog posts
June 13, 2018

Unpacking the Collection 8

By: Patricia Measures


Dora’s work is as familiar as the change that jingles in your pocket. In all likelihood, you have come in contact with her work while using coinage to pay for your morning cup of coffee.
Content type(s): Blog posts
May 8, 2018

Operation Fish

By: Robert Low


Operation Fish was the largest movement of physical wealth in history.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy, History, Social studies Grade level(s): Grade 06, Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
April 18, 2018

New Acquisitions

By: Paul S. Berry


To distinguish the new production from that of 1936, a small impression was added to the reverse dies, creating a raised dot on coins struck from those tools.
Content type(s): Blog posts
March 14, 2018

The Bank-NOTEable Woman is Here!

By: Graham Iddon


Even if you’re not familiar with Viola Desmond’s story, it will likely become clear that the theme of this note is human rights and social justice.
Content type(s): Blog posts
February 27, 2018

Unpacking the Collection 7

By: David Bergeron


Canadian waters have also claimed their fair share of treasure ships.
Content type(s): Blog posts
January 30, 2018

Before the Erebus

By: Graham Iddon


Now you might wonder just how a museum specializing in economics and currency expects to interpret the history of a legendary arctic explorer—through money, of course.
Content type(s): Blog posts
January 3, 2018

Decoding E-Money Is Here

By: Graham Iddon


Now that we are again back in our house, we’ve invited one of our wandering exhibitions home for a visit: Decoding E-Money.
Content type(s): Blog posts
November 23, 2017

The Bank of Canada Museum Goes International

By: Ken Ross


Every year the conference of the International Federation of Finance Museums (IFFM) draws museum directors from five continents to a get-together aimed at sharing best-practices and keeping up with the latest trends in the world of financial museums. This year was the Bank’s first opportunity to attend the conference with a museum in fully-operational mode.
Content type(s): Blog posts
October 23, 2017

A Curator’s Favourite Task

By: David Bergeron


I have several key responsibilities to meet the requirements of my job. None of them is more gratifying than conducting research about the incredible artifacts in the Bank’s collection.
Content type(s): Blog posts
  • « Previous
  • 1
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 15
  • Next »
Go To Page

30 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0G9, CANADA
613‑782‑8914

  • Things to do

  • Plan your visit
  • Find educational resources
  • Search the Collection
  • Connect with us
  • Things to see

  • Canadian bank notes
  • Exhibitions
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Things to know

  • Accessibility and special needs
  • Code of conduct
  • COVID-19 protocols
  • Privacy
●●
Bank of Canada Museum

Visit the Bank of Canada web site ›

We use cookies to help us keep improving this website.

Accept and continue