Canadian pound

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Canadian pound

pound currency
1 penny (2 sous) bank token (1837)
Unit
Plural	pounds
Symbol	£‎
Denominations
Subunit
1⁄20	shilling
1⁄240	penny
Plural
shilling	shillings
penny	pence
Symbol
shilling	s or /–
penny	d
Demographics
Date of introduction	ca. 1760
Date of withdrawal	1858
Replaced by	Canadian dollar
User(s)	Province of Canada
Valuation
Value	£1 = $4
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

The pound currency (symbol £) was the unit of account in the French colony of Canada while under British military governorship, the Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Lower & Upper Canada (1791–1841), and United Province of Canada (1841–1867), from the British conquest of New France^[1]: 67 until its replacement by the Canadian dollar in 1858. It was subdivided into 20 shillings (s), each of 12 pence (d). It was not a circulating currency, insofar as no coins or banknotes denominated in "Canadian pounds" (nor its subunits) were issued by a monetary authority.^{[1]: 17–20 [2]: 41}

Rather, local custom and law set exchange rates against foreign specie, and that foreign money was used as the circulation medium. These 'ratings' varied over time but the most commonly used during this period was the "Halifax rating", established at Halifax, Nova Scotia in the 1750s, which set the value of one Spanish dollar equal to five shillings "Halifax currency".^{[3]: 13–14} This represented a premium of sixpence more than British tests conducted ca. 1703 that had established an average Spanish dollar coin's weight in silver was equal to 4s 6d sterling.^[1]: 19 Foreign coins were typically overvalued in this manner in order to encourage the coinage to circulate^{[1]: 21 [3]: 12} and as such Canadian pounds currency were never at par with British pounds sterling.