Back in 2002, I had a garage sale and found a few 2000 Journey TENS in my wad of bills. I was also intrigued to discover that the BOC (Bank of Canada) had actually imprinted the year the note which I discovered printed at the lower centre border of the banknote. I then went online to discover that the Canadian Paper Money Forum, (CPMF) was documenting how this series was being released. That garage sale was the beginning of many searches of elusive TEN Dollar banknote prefixes and for me becoming a more active collector. I pulled out my old banknote collection, listed a few circulated 1969-1979 Series on eBay, and became hooked once again with my Canadian paper money hobby.
By 2003, there was already talk that the "original" Journey series would be entirely modified due to rampant laser-jet printing of high quality bogus notes. A few years later,(2006) I attended an RCNA convention hosted in Niagara Falls and had the pleasure of attending the Canadian Paper Money Society's luncheon. The new series was already replacing the old "original" Journey notes. I met several like-minded individuals including Jim Charlton Sr (creator of the catalogue), the web master of the CPMF and several of Canada's topnotch collectors of BoC currency. I had learned that the original Journey series was printed on 100% cotton paper so that early notes would wear out quickly. I also learned that the substrate from the 2005 revised notes were improved by 2004 (The release of the new $10) but I really liked them. I also remember many fellow collectors predicting our conversion to polymer which, sure enough, became a reality only a decade later.
The original 2002 FIVES held a few surprises too. Prefix AOF turned out to be a short prefix and the 2003 HNH prefix changed from Knight-Dodge to Jenkins-Dodge in 2004 (4M each). Each change-over is equally plentiful. It was the 2004 HOH (much like the 2004 BER $10) which had a much more limited release than initially expected. Far more 2005 HOH $5 were reported (Charlton has the 2004 HOH 0187763 as the highest serial number reported for that year). Collectors were on the look out for the 2001 AOB (2.24-2.32M); the 2004 HOG (9.92-9.94M); the 2005 HOH (7.06-&7.14M); HOP (0.92-0.94M) & the HPA (5.96-5.98M) Sheet replacements. All of these were short replacement runs & should not be confused with the larger runs (for AOB, HOG, HOH) replacements. HPA also happened to be a rarely seen series change-over prefix with the new upgraded $5 (B-67a -see below).
*The original Journey series became one of the most watched/tracked & collected series & I witnessed most of this phenomenon up close.
I actually found a 2001 Knight-Dodge FDZ (400,000) from circulation but the 2001 Knight-Dodge FEE prefix (480,000) remained elusive. I also found a 2000 Knight-Thiessen FDY (2.4M printed) that was so completely worn out that I made it my mission to buy an upgraded UNC example on eBay (which was getting big at this point). It was a short prefix that caught most collectors unaware. By 2003, many CPMF members, including "your's truly," were scrambling to find the following prefixes:
2003 Jenkins-Dodge BEK (1.4M; the non-insert being tougher than the inserts)
2003 BEL (unknown; it appears as if ranges of this missing prefix were released. However, after the BEK shortage, collectors became alerted to possible shortened prefixes so that collectors hunted this & other elusive prefixes)
BEM & BEN seemed to have normal releases
2003 BEP (tough but not as quite as scarce as BEL, BEK or 2003 BER) considered part of the missing prefixes.
2003 BER Last of the missing prefixes. Many more 2004 BER [1.4M] seemed to have been released than the 2003 edition.
BES seemed to have a normal full (10M) run release
BET (0.9M) was the last prefix & was considered "tough"
Whether the last 2003 & 2004 Original Journey banknotes were being dumped into circulation OR bricks of the "missing prefixes" were being recalled, no one was certain. The unhighlighted prefixes seemed to have been the staple TEN prefixes to be found back then (BEJ, 2002 BEK, 2003 BEM, BEN & 2004 BES) while collectors scrambled to find the bolded missing prefixes, change overs & the last BET prefix. Many banknotes from this time also seemed to have poor production QC. I saw many with extra spurious ink, band marks and wavy indentations. The designs were also printed cock-eyed (rather than properly centred) so acquiring a high grade GEM became quite a challenge.
The new upgraded Journeys banknote was a completely redesigned note. First, the designers replaced the gold maple leaf with a watermark (of either Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier for the $5 or Sir John A. Macdonald's for the $10). In addition, the security strip nearly obliterated the coat of arms (previously visible on the original), a perfect register of either '5' or '10' Marker showed when backlit. As you will note (by Charlton's numbering) it was the ONE HUNDRED, FIFTY & TWENTY DOLLAR denominations that were first released but I will begin with the FIVE & TEN Dollar denominations (which were released in 2005) to be consistent.
If you have any interest in Canadian currency, than I suggest you ignore the vague SCWPM numbering system (unhelpful Book Values) & digest the data provided by Charlton. The contrasts between P-101 & P-101A (FIVES) are significant but they even become more obvious when discussing the P-102 & P-102A (TENS) release with the "missing prefixes."
The new upgraded Journeys started in2004 with the Jenkins-Dodge AOF prefix (6.2M). This is the second time a prefix has had a design change-over (since the Modified 1954 Series seen some Devil Face prefixes spill over) but there's nothing scarce about AOF. The same can be said for the AOG prefix (6.28M). It wasn't until 2006, when the APM prefix (0.449M) was shortened that this became the prefix to acquire. In 2008, ADD (2.4M) had a year imprint change-over (to 2009) and AAT (2.78M) became a short prefix (as the British North American printing Co. ceased printing FIVES). In 2010, 2.45M HPA Jenkins-Carney prefixes were printed (higher than 7.5M). This was a significant signature change-over since the last HPA prefix was printed in 2005 with the Jenkins-Dodge signature from the Original Journey Fives. Another significant changed-over occurred when the 2010 Macklem-Carney HAE changed at 9.576M leaving a mere 424,000 2011 HAE. All subsequent Macklem-Carney prefixes (HAF-HAL) ended up being released in limited runs with the HAH & HAL being the most elusive of the 2011 prefixes (beside HAE). Collectors saw bricks and bundles of HAF HAG & HAK offered on eBay. Nevertheless, considering bricks only represent 1000 notes here and there, I do not believe that Charlton's Book Values have been realistic for these prefixes and that the HAJ, HAH nor HAL (where no bricks were seen) still seem rather low.
The new 2004 TENS had no new surprises with the first three prefixes Jenkins-Dodge BEU-BEW. The 2004 BEY became an abundant change-over (2.5M) but the FEP-FEU prefixes were full runs. Oddly enough, only small numbers of the FEV prefixes appeared in reams of other prefixes and immediately identified as "insert replacements." While 4.3M were supposed to have been issued it remains doubtful that this was the case. No new tens were issued in 2006 and the tough 2007 BTF had less than 1 million released. In addition to this, the 2007 BTV was a very short prefix with less than 190,000 printed (most of which were found to function as either regular or single-note inserts). Later that year, a few collectors discovered a new "double-denomination" error where $20 paper was accidentally used to print BTT & BTU prefix TENS and the Serial Number Data Base was launched by the CPMF. As serial number data was entered, it soon became clear that several late $10 prefixes had very limited releases. The 2009 BFH (3.7M) was the last change-over for this series and it ended with the BFW prefix.
The new TWENTY dollar started with normal full runs of 2004 AYR-AYZ & AZA-AZM prefixes (210M). It then had several year change-overs (2004 AZN (1.8M); 2007 ALV [1.9M] & 2007 ELT [1.8M]) which were all somewhat challenging to attain in higher grades. The one prefix that surprised most collectors was the 2007 Jenkins-Dodge ALZ (1M) which turned out to be shortened & elusive to find in high grades. The 2008 Jenkins-Carney ARK (2M) & ARW (1.175M) also seemed much tougher to acquire (than previous change-overs). In 2009, the EUJ (2.1M) also would have been tough in some regions of the country. Finally, the 2010 Jenkins-Carney AUB also turned out to be an elusive year change-over to find (compared to the 2009 which was common).
The new FIFTY DOLLAR denomination had the 2004 AHJ (2.2M) and FMJ (4M) as change-overs (to 2006 versions. The 2008 Jenkins Carney FMR (4.3M0 was the last prefix of that year. Most collectors feel that this denomination produced one uneventful 10M run after another so collectors had to satisfy themselves with either Insert Replacements (such as AHA or AHF), Single Note Replacements (such as the shortened AHJ) or acquire a Special Serial Number (radar, etc).
The 2003 $100 started with the Jenkins-Dodge BJY prefix but the BJZ was only half a full run (5M). 2003 BKG, EJB & 2005 BKG are other half-runs (around 5M each). Only the 2006 Jenkins-Dodge EJE prefix (0.455M) of the new ONE HUNDRED proved to be a tough year change-over to find.
While inserts were known to be released with the BIRDS Series, Journey insert-replacements were avidly reported and recorded in the Charlton Guides. In addition to Sheet replacements, brick searchers also discovered less common Single Note Replacements (SNR) which also were documented. There were a number SNR collectors for the $5, $10 and $20 plus a cohort who collected the $50 & $100 denominations since year/signature change-overs were seldom seen.
See Notable Terms for more information on the replacement function of these notes.