1969-1979 Bank of Canada Banknotes

Currency of the Bank of Canada (1969-1979)

This page shows examples of each major note which was issued for use between 1969 and 1979 by the Bank of Canada.
It does NOT cover minor varieties.
All of the currency designs displayed here were printed for circulation as legal tender.

NOTES:
1. Click on any photo to load a much larger version of the same photo.

2. You will find the Charlton Catalogue number listed at the top of the text box beside each set of images.
This web page makes references to various Charlton Numbers. The copyrights to these Numbering Systems are the property of CHARLTON INTERNATIONAL INC and have been used here with their written consent.

3. Because it is illegal to copy a photo of any banknote for the purposes of counterfeiting, the ability to 'right-click' and save these images has been disabled.

1969-1979 Issue of Canadian Banknotes

The "Scenes of Canada" Issue

In an effort to eliminate the rampant counterfeiting which happened with the 1954 series, a number of new security features were added to this issue.

Unlike previous issues, the issue date for each denomination varies from 1969 to 1975.

Continuing a process which was started in 1937, each note received a unique 7 digit "serial number" as well as a two or three letter prefix.
Each set of ten million notes were given a different series letter. Twenty-three different series letters were approved for use, so a total of 230 million possible notes could be printed for each denomination letter.
If more notes were required, an alternate denomination letter (or a second denomination letter) was used, and both the series letter and serial number sequences were re-started.
A two or three letter prefix was added to each serial number:
- In the case of a two letter prefix, the first character represents the denomination while the second letter represents the series.
- In the case of a three letter prefix, the first two characters represent the denomination while the third letter represents the series.

Denomination	Qty of Denom Letters	Letters Assigned	Replacement Letters Assigned
1 Dollar	1	A, F, G, I, L, M, N, O, P	A, F, G, I, M, N, *O
1 Dollar	2	AA, AC, AF, AL, AM, AX(test), BA, BC, BF, EA, EC, EX(test)	AA(X), BA(X), EA(X)
2 Dollar	1	B, R(test), U	B, R, *U
2 Dollar	2	AB, AG, AR	AB(X)
5 Dollar	1	C, S, R(test), X	C, S
5 Dollar	2	None	None
10 Dollar	1	D, T, V	D, T, *V
10 Dollar	2	ED, EE, ET, FD	ED(X)
20 Dollar	1	E, W, Y	E, W, *Y
20 Dollar	2	None	None
50 Dollar	1	H	*H
50 Dollar	2	EH	EH(X)
100 Dollar	1	J	*J
100 Dollar	2	AJ	AJ(X)

In addition, notes which were damaged during the printing process were not replaced with identical notes.
A special series of notes whose serial number did not have to be identical to the damaged note were printed.
As damaged notes were discovered, replacement notes were inserted into the brick. These notes can be distinguished from a standard note by the presence of an asterisk (*) to the left of the serial number, or in the case of two digit denomination letters, the series letter "X".

1973 1 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-46a

1 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
Back - Parliament Hill, asa viewed from across the Ottawa River.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1973 1 Dollar Note (Crow-Bouey)

BC-46b

1 Dollar
(Crow-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
Back - Parliament Hill, asa viewed from across the Ottawa River.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.W. Crow) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1974 2 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-47a

2 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
Back - Inuit hunting scene, Baffin Island.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1974 2 Dollar Note (Crow-Bouey)

BC-47b

2 Dollar
(Crow-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
Back - Inuit hunting scene, Baffin Island.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.W. Crow) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1972 5 Dollar Note (Bouey-Rasminsky)

BC-48a

5 Dollar
(Bouey-Rasminsky))

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir Wilfred Laurier.
Back - Salmon seine fishing boat, Johnson Strait, Vancouver Island.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (G.K. Bouey) and the Governor (L. Rasminsky) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1972 5 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-48b

5 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir Wilfred Laurier.
Back - Salmon seine fishing boat, Johnson Strait, Vancouver Island.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1971 10 Dollar Note (Beattie-Rasminsky)

BC-49a

10 Dollar
(Beattie-Rasminsky)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir John A. Macdonald.
Back - Industrial scene, Sarnia Ontario.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.R. Beattie) and the Governor (L. Rasminsky) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1971 10 Dollar Note (Bouey-Rasminsky)

BC-49b

10 Dollar
(Bouey-Rasminsky)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir John A. Macdonald.
Back - Industrial scene, Sarnia Ontario.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (G.K. Bouey) and the Governor (L. Rasminsky) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1971 10 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-49c

10 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir John A. Macdonald.
Back - Industrial scene, Sarnia Ontario.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1971 10 Dollar Note (Crow-Bouey)

BC-49d

10 Dollar
(Crow-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir John A. Macdonald.
Back - Industrial scene, Sarnia Ontario.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.W. Crow) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1971 10 Dollar Note (Thiessen-Crow)

BC-49e

10 Dollar
(Thiessen-Crow)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir John A. Macdonald.
Back - Industrial scene, Sarnia Ontario.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (G.G. Thiessen) and the Governor (J.W. Crow) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1969 20 Dollar Note (Beattie-Rasminsky)

BC-50a

20 Dollar
(Beattie-Rasminsky)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
Back - Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.R. Beattie) and the Governor (L. Rasminsky) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1969 20 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-50b

20 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
Back - Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1975 50 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-51a

50 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - William Lyon MacKenzie King.
Back - RCMP Musical Ride, dome formation.

The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1975 50 Dollar Note (Crow-Bouey)

BC-51b

50 Dollar
(Crow-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - William Lyon MacKenzie King.
Back - RCMP Musical Ride, dome formation.

These notes were delivered to the Bank of Canada without any printed signatures. The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.W. Crow) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1975 100 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-52a

100 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir Robert Borden.
Back - Lunenburg Harbour, Nova Scotia.

These notes were delivered to the Bank of Canada without any printed signatures. The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1975 100 Dollar Note (Crow-Bouey)

BC-52b

100 Dollar
(Crow-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir Robert Borden.
Back - Lunenburg Harbour, Nova Scotia.

These notes were delivered to the Bank of Canada without any printed signatures. The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.W. Crow) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1979 Issue of Canadian Banknotes

The 1979 issue incorporated a number of design changes to make the bills machine readable:

- Letters were removed from the serial numbers.
- The text "BANK OF CANADA BANQUE DU CANADA" was removed from the back of the note to make room for the serial numbers.
- The red and blue serial numbers were moved from the front face of the note to the bottom of the back face using black ink only.
- The area behind the serial number was changed to plain white.
A number of other changes were made to help differentiate the $20 note from the $1 note.

It was planned to convert all other denominations to this format, but the plan was abandoned when it was decided to do a complete re-design of all denominations to keep up with printing technology. This decision is what led to the 1986 Issue.

Because the letters had been removed, the following system was used to differentiate the bank notes. As outlined in the table below, the first two or three digits combined constitute the "series number":

Denomination	Standard Note Prefixes	Replacement Note Prefixes	Test Note Prefixes
5 Dollar *	30** (CBN)	31** (CBN)	33** (CBN*)
20 Dollar *	50 (CBN), 52 (CBN) or 56 (BABN) (2nd digit 0 or 2=CBN, 6=BABN)	510 (CBN) or 516 (BABN) (3rd digit 0=CBN, 6=BABN)	N/A
* 5 Dollar first digit is always "3", 20 Dollar first digit is always "5". (2nd digit = 0 for standard note, 1 for replacement, 3 for test note. * CBN = Printed by the Canadian Banknote Company, BABN = Printed by the British American Banknote Company.

1979 5 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-53a

5 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir Robert Borden.
Back - Salmon seine fishing boat, Johnson Strait, Vancouver Island.

These notes were delivered to the Bank of Canada without any printed signatures. The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1979 5 Dollar Note (Crow-Bouey)

BC-53b

5 Dollar
(Crow-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir Wilfred Laurier.
Back - Salmon seine fishing boat, Johnson Strait, Vancouver Island.

These notes were delivered to the Bank of Canada without any printed signatures. The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.W. Crow) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1979 20 Dollar Note (Lawson-Bouey)

BC-54a

20 Dollar
(Lawson-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - Sir Wilfred Laurier.
Back - Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta.

These notes were delivered to the Bank of Canada without any printed signatures. The signatures of the Deputy Governor (R.W. Lawson) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1979 20 Dollar Note (Crow-Bouey)

BC-54b

20 Dollar
(Crow-Bouey)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
Back - Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta.

These notes were delivered to the Bank of Canada without any printed signatures. The signatures of the Deputy Governor (J.W. Crow) and the Governor (G.K. Bouey) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

1979 20 Dollar Note (Thiessen-Crow)

BC-54c

20 Dollar
(Thiessen-Crow)

VIGNETTES:
Front Left - The Coat of Arms of Canada.
Front Right - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
Back - Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta.

These notes were delivered to the Bank of Canada without any printed signatures. The signatures of the Deputy Governor (G.G. Thiessen) and the Governor (J.W. Crow)) were engraved onto the intaglio steel engraved plates prior to the printing, so there should be no variance in the location of each signature.

Note: See Appendix A for the locations of the plate numbers on these notes.

APPENDIX A: Plate Number Locations

The locations of the plate numbers on these notes can be found below: