Way back before confederation in 1867, Canada’s financial landscape looked very different than it does today. Banks issued their own notes representing U.S. dollars and cents or British pounds and pence, depending on the institution. And bank patrons received no guarantees that their “money” would serve them beyond provincial borders, seeing as how the provinces’ financial systems weren’t even compatible. In New Brunswick, a British Sovereign (gold coin) was worth US$4.87. But in Nova Scotia, the Sovereign carried more heft: US$5. Conversion wasn’t easy.