Where are all of the Bank of Canada $500 1935 notes??

News: Registration is free here at the CPMF!

On page 216 of the current Charlton catalogue we read that only 40 Bank of Canada $500 1935 notes remain outstanding at the present time. This total includes both the English and French text notes. I have often wondered where these 40 notes are so you can imagine my surprise when I conducted an online search at the Bank of Canada Currency Museum and discovered that the Museum holds no fewer than 32 of the 40 outstanding notes!  One can therefore deduce that a MAXIMUM OF EIGHT $500 1935 notes remain in private hands. The number extant could in fact be lower than 8 because some notes could have been destroyed or irretrievably lost over the last 70+ years.

The notes that reside in the Currency Museum carry the following sheet numbers:

ENGLISH TEXT: A00001 (Plate A), A00001 (B), A00001 (C),  A00001 (D), A00002 (A), A00002 (B), A00002 (C), A00002 (D), A00003 (A), A00003 (B), A00003 (C), A00003 (D), A00004 (A), A00004 (C), A00550 (C), A00553 (C), A00562 (C), A00989 (D) and  A00991 (D).

FRENCH TEXT: F00001 (Plate B), F00001 (C), F00001 (D), F00002 (A), F00002 (B), F00002 (C), F00002 (D),  F00003 (A), F00003 (B), F00003 (C), F00003 (D), F00004 (A) and F00004 (C).

The above numbers reveal unambiguously why Bank of Canada $500 1935 notes are so excessively rare on the open market. 

Notes held in the NCC are not included in the totals outstanding. They are considered redeemed.

There is a registry of known $500 notes on the Wiki site:
1935 $500 English Text Notes
1935 $500 French Text Notes

Notes held in the NCC are not included in the totals outstanding. They are considered redeemed.

There is a registry of known $500 notes on the Wiki site:
1935 $500 English Text Notes
1935 $500 French Text Notes

Many thanks, Brent. I must admit that I didn't consciously realize that notes in the Currency Museum are disregarded when stating totals outstanding (it might be useful to stress that point in the catalogue). Although that makes complete sense from the banking liability point of view it does tend to confuse the situation regarding the actual number of notes in physical existence as well as to distort the concept of "rarity". Also, it should be noted that the notes in the Currency Museum have not been cancelled with perforations or rubber stamps.

This state of affairs would presumably preclude the Currency Museum from trading one of its $500 duplicates for, perhaps, a $500 1911 note or a rare chartered note that it does not possess(?)

There is one English $500 note (and matching $1,000) of which some people might particularly like to know the location.  These notes, both numbered 00004 - I don't know the check letters for certain but I think they were both B  - were stolen from the Bank of Montreal Museum in December 1999.  Perhaps they have been returned since; I do not know.  There isn't much the thief could do with these - can't display them, can't sell them, can't spend them, without incurring a lot of risk.

I am almost positive that the low-numbered and specimen notes are not included in the notes outstanding. The issued notes that they have reclaimed from circulation MAY still be on the books, but I don't know 100% for sure. I suspect that they are recorded as redeemed, but left intact for purposes of the collection.

Can it be confirmed that any of these 8 surviving in public hands are of the French variety?

Regards

Jason

The register records no known French $500s in public hands, and the only ones known to be in the NCC are low numbers and specimens. (Specimen notes are not part of the registry).