Multicolour 1969 Series

The Bank of Canada (BOC) began their tradition of staggered release of their denominations at the beginning of 1969 making the 1954 Twenty Dollar banknote the shortest lived denomination for that series. Why? Very simply put, it was the denomination which had the largest numbers of counterfeit discoveries and needed an urgent upgrade. Along with new printing technologies (lithographic backs, serial numbers moved to the back), the designers incorporated the Coat of Arms and introduced four Prime Ministers. John A Mcdonald was featured on the $10 in 1971, Sir Wilfrid Laurier on the $5 in 1972, William Lyon Makenzie King and Robert Borden were feature on the $50 and $100 in 1975. On the backs of each note, Canadian scenes seemed to reflect a national identity more than their 1954 predecessor. Queen Elizabeth II still remained on the $1, $2 and $20 denominations. The 1954 ONE THOUSAND Dollar was the senior deputy & governor signatures & still used rather than given a much needed design make over.

SCWPM P-85a,b $1 / CHARLTON BC-46a-e ONE's:

BC-46a/P-85a One hundred and eighty 2 letter prefixes (AA-AZ; FA-FZ; GA-GZ; IA-IZ; LA-LZ; MA-MZ; NA-NZ & OA-OV)* were released with the Lawson-Bouey signature combination for a total of 1,800M notes (the largest run of BOC notes). The P/A short prefix had commanded a huge premium over the other 180 full run prefixes in the past but discovered hoards of this prefix have cooled demand. After much documentation replacements with *AA (800) in high ranges and *AB (720) were discovered. Replacements with *FB (200) and *FH (unknown) and *MD seems to be the rarest of the lot. *(excluding the I O and Q denominators, or 2nd letters so no: AI, AO, AQ; FI, FO, FQ; GI, GO, GQ; II, IO, IQ; LO, LI, LQ; MO, MI, MQ; NO, NI, NQ & OO, OI &OQ)

BC-46a-i/P-85a Another 89 full 3 letter prefixes (AAA to AAB; ACA-ACZ; AFA-AFE steel plus AFG-AFZ; ALA-ALL litho) were printed for a total of 890M banknotes with the Lawson-Bouey signature combination. The first 3.8M banknotes with prefix AFF (15X BV) had steel engraved backs while the remaining 6.2M AFF were lithographed and hold a slight premium (4X BV). The first 1.2M banknotes with the EAK prefix (21XBV) were steel while the remaining 8.8M EAK (5XBV) were lithographed (5XBV). ALM (1.4M) was also noteworthy signature change-over. Replacement designation changed to X on the third prefix letter (eg: AAX or EAX). Both prefixes were affected by the lithographic press. AAX with SN below 2.16M were steel engraved while those above had lithographed backs. EAX with SN below 0.62M were steel while those above those numbers had litho backs. Test notes were produced with the middle letter "X" so that 0.9M AXA steel test notes were produced and 0.4M litho AXA (above 0.9M) issued.

BC-46b/P-85c One hundred and fourteen full 3 letter prefixes (ALN to ALZ; AMA-AMZ; BAA-BAZ; BCA-BCZ; BFA-BFK; EAP-EAZ; ECA-ECU) have the Crow-Bouey signature combination for a total of 1,140M massive run just like earlier versions. The EAN prefix (1M) seems to be the most popular change-over. The AAX (1M) was much more limited (& popular) compared to the BAX or EAX replacements (1.5M). The EXA test note (0.6M) is the last test note for the One Dollar denomination.

SCWPM P-86a,b $2 / CHARLTON BC-47a,b TWO's:

BC-47a/P-86a Fifty-four full 2 letter Lawson-Bouey prefixes were issued (BA,BB, BD-BN, BR-BZ; RA-RZ; UA-UL) for a total of 540M issued. Some collectors seek "Original" & "Modified tint" banknotes with the BC & BP prefixes. *RA (0.08M) and *UG (0.20M) seem to be the most popular replacements while serial numbers above 1.9M (280 est) for *BC are scarce while any notes with *RD (80) are seldom seen. Long after the RS prefix (3.2M)* was released, its test note function was discovered. *It is suspected that only ranges of this run were actually released.

Thirty-one full (31 X 10M) 3 letter prefixes with Lawson-Bouey signature combination were released for a third of a billion in total. The ABX (1.1M) prefix was for replacement function & runs of these have kept BV relatively soft for these.

BC-47b/P-86b Seventeen full (17 X 10M) 3 letter prefixes (AGK to AGZ; ARA-ARD) had the Crow-Bouey signature combination for a total of 170M banknotes issued. The Crow-Bouey ABX replacement is much tougher than the Lawson-Bouey example.

SCWPM P-87a,b $5 / CHARLTON BC-56a,b FIVE's:

With the Five Dollar BC-48a,b/P-87a,b has a similar issue as the $2 but is replaced by the 1979 Series (P-92) before it can start employing 3 letter prefixes. The series started in 1972 with the Bouey-Rasminksy (a) signature which had 13 full prefixes and only one signature change-over with the CP prefix. The CP prefix is continued with the Lawson-Bouey (b) signature & 33 full prefixes. Like BC-47a ($2), the BOC also issued an estimated 480,000 batch of RS test notes which caught collectors by surprise & can be very scarce to source in any grade. A number of asterisk replacements prefixes were released, some of which are much tougher than the others. The *CA replacements above 3.28M and *SB above 1.6M command high book values and *CB is the scarcest of the lot. In 1979, BC-48ab/P-87ab was retired for the new design placing an eleven digit serial number on the back. One oddity remains the XA stand-alone short prefix which to this day commands a much higher BV than the change-overs.

SCWPM P-88a-e $10 / CHARLTON BC-49a-e TEN's:

The Ten Dollars BC-49a,b,c,d,e/P-88a,b,c,d,e was issued in 1971 with the Beattie-Rasminsky (a), Bouey-Rasminksy (b), Lawson-Bouey (c), Crow-Bouey (d) & Thiessen-Crow (e) signature varieties. With such a long run, numerous asterisk replacements were released, some of which were quite common while others were tough. The *DE, *DX and *DY (over 4M) are considered very scarce. With five signatures issued there were a number of signature change-overs but they've never had the following (ie collector interest) that the $1 & $2 have. Beattie-Rasminsky DL had a paltry 800,000 but did not gain the respect (nor interest) that the Bouey-Rasminksy DX (440,000) change-over received. This long running denomination transitioned to the three letter prefix system with Lawson-Bouey (c) & Lithography with the Crow-Bouey (d) signature. The introduction of Lithograph produced Steel engrave & "Litho" EEV & EDX Crow-Bouey change-overs.

"Good Overs:"

Serial numbers are the last thing applied to Canadian banknotes so a batch of "Good-over" sheets with the Lawson/Bouey signatures were inserted in a predominantly 3 Crow/Bouey Ten Dollar prefix reams beginning with the EEP, EES & EET (EET were first discovered with the strange signature while EEP & EES were found later). These prefixes with the Lawson/Bouey signature combinations were a complete anomaly (in the release of BoC notes) so all are very scarce and highly sought after by Canadian and several world collectors.

SCWPM P-89a,b $20 / CHARLTON BC-50a,b TWENTIES:

The 1969 Twenty Dollars BC-50a,b/P-89a,b had 22 full (22 X 10M) prefixes with the initial Beattie-Rasminsky (a) signature & 31 full (31 X 10M) prefixes with the Lawson-Bouey (b) signature combination for half a billion notes. Several tough replacements include Beattie-Rasminsky *EM, *EV, *EX & Lawson-Bouey *WE, *WL but the *WA prefix (est 80) is as scarce as the former scarce replacements described for the lower denominations. After a decade, this series was given a new design to further distinguish it from the ONE (BC-46).

SCWPM P-90a,b $50 / CHARLTON BC-51a,b FIFTIES:

The 1975 Fifty Dollars BC-51a,b/P-90a,b had 36 full (36 X 10M) 2-letter prefixes before switching to the 3-letter prefix system (56 prefixes) with the Lawson-Bouey (a) signatures. Over 80 full 3-letter prefixes were issued with the Crow-Bouey (b) signatures. For the first time, this denomination had asterisk replacements which were seldom put aside by collectors. Look for *HB, *HC & EHX replacements with the Lawson-Bouey signature & just EHX for the Crow-Bouey signature. Many were not sought after nor kept by collectors.

SCWPM P-91a,b $100 / CHARLTON BC-52a,b ONE HUNDRED's:

The 1975 One Hundred Dollars BC-52a,b/P-91a,b had 35 full (35 X 10M) 2-letter prefixes before switching to the 3-letter prefix system (22 prefixes) with the Lawson-Bouey (a) signatures. Over 97 full 3-letter prefixes were issued with the Crow-Bouey (b) signatures. Look for *JA, *JC & AJX replacements with the Lawson-Bouey signature & just AJX for the Crow-Bouey signature. Many were not sought after nor kept by collectors.

Multicolour 1979 Series:

With the introduction of the new $5 and $20 in 1979 replacement & test notes continued to be produced but collectors were left flatfooted trying to detect significant notes and fewer still saved them. Nobody really understood the numbering system until Charlton brought to light, years later, which numbers denoted Replacement or Test note function.

SCWPM P-92a,b $5 / CHARLTON BC-53a,b FIVE's:

1979 Five Dollar serial numbers that began with "31000XXXXXX" served as Replacement notes. The Lawson-Bouey "31" designated replacements had a whopping 3.3M run but since collectors were more or less in the dark, these replacements were usually circulated or quite tough to find in higher grades. "31" designated replacements with the Crow-Bouey signature only had 760,000 printed so these are even more scarce & pricey. Furthermore, only 0.5M Five Dollar Test notes with a "33" serial # were issued so these notes are extremely tough, if not scarce, to come by & actively sought out by many advance collectors.

SCWPM P-93a,b,c $20 / CHARLTON BC-54a,b,c TWENTIES:

Twenty Dollar notes with serial numbers that started with "510XXXXXXXX" for Lawson-Bouey & "510" plus "5160XXXXXXX" Crow-Bouey (& the same with the Thiessen-Crow signatures) served as Replacement notes. While the first signature combination had 3.4M replacements issued fewer collectors were aware of the coded replacement function so the first signature BV has remained loftier than their Crow-Bouey/Thiessen-Crow cousins. The Bank of Canada's printers (CBN & BABN) made the transition from Steel engraved plates to lithography in the early 1980's. Some collectors prefer the first steel engraved "510" Crow-Bouey replacements over the later litho versions. However, when it comes to the "516" replacements the early steel versions outnumber the later litho versions 2:1 so that the later "litho" versions (0.44M) are far more sought after. Both "510" & "516" replacements of the Thiessen-Crow $20 had large runs & remained plentiful so that BV has stayed tepid.