Most of us don’t carry a lot of cash in our wallets these days, given the ubiquity of credit and debit transactions. Change feels like a dead weight.

But an exhibit by Toronto-Dominion Bank, which features currency used over the past 230 years, offers a rare historical glimpse into a world that is slipping away.

As Good As Gold: The TD Bank Currency Collection is an exhibit held in – where else? – a steel-reinforced vault at the bank’s headquarters in Toronto.

It includes early pre-Confederation promissory notes from merchants, grocery stores and lumber companies, dating as far back as 1790.

The first Canadian currency arrives in 1851, when each dollar was backed by gold. From there, paper notes become increasingly ornate to reflect their nation-building role in establishing trade, trust and commerce.

It ends with a look at what began to chip away at cash’s dominance, including historical cheques and a heavy glass ashtray with the Chargex logo.

What you come away with is a greater understanding of how currency reflected the country’s economic ambitions for decades upon decades. And you emerge, perhaps, feeling a bit sad that we are severing this historical connection when we pay digitally.

The collection is currently limited to TD employees. But I snagged an invite for a personal tour from Amy Korczynski, curator, art and corporate heritage collections at TD.

With a $20 bill tucked into my wallet – it’s been there for months – I spoke with Korczynski about our shifting connection to money. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Do we still need cash?

Cash offers a really discrete method of payment. Another is that a cash economy is still incredibly important for enfranchising people who are underbanked. We know that in Canada that is prevalent across many communities. Cash gives people access and power.

Have we have lost our connection to money as a store of value?

It certainly would appear that way. But I think it is more nuanced than that. In living and dealing in the world, money has a part in that desire for friction and interactions. The prevalence of digital payments has really masked that.

How much cash do you use?

Less than I did before COVID. But many people in my age group are trained to have cash in our wallets. It’s prudent to have cash. It gives you power in the moment, it is immediately transactable and it is not dependent on technologies, which we know sometimes fail.

We can view the items in the exhibit from a number of different perspectives – as art, as monetary history. How do you see them?

I definitely see them as artworks and I appreciate them for their detail and considered design. However, I approached these items as a researcher teasing a story out of physical remnants – to trace the bank’s active participation in the establishment of a Canadian monetary system.

We can understand the evolution of how we got from a decentralized, unregulated state of currency to a highly organized and extremely regulated state.

Do you have a favourite note in the exhibit?

The private creditor’s note from the Montreal firm Dobie & Badgley from 1790 was definitely a highlight of my research. I crave friction in the real world, and so to hold something of that age and to think about the daily lives of Canadians before Confederation is really thought-provoking.

Holding historical material makes you feel more tied to the moment that you live in, while you are also learning about the moments that we came from.

And the final question is for you, readers: Do you still use cash? In what ways? Let me know at dberman@globeandmail.com.