$1 1967 SPECIMEN NOTES IN MATCHING PAIRS

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I've attached scans of a matching pair (#091) of $1 1967 SPECIMEN notes, one with the 1867-1967 serial numbers and one with I/P 0000000 serial numbers. This pair was sold as Lot 219 (Realized $175 + fees) in the classic Bank of Canada auction held by Charles Moore in November 1999 (WOW, was it that long ago??!!)

It's possible that many of these matching pairs have been broken up over the years so I was wondering if there is any premium attached to a matching pair relative to the value of two separate notes.

To be honest, I wasn't really turned on by all of those Bank of Canada Specimen notes at the time as there was a very high degree of "duplication". Isn't it just amazing how collectibles in general start to look much more attractive when they start getting scarcer and going up in price ........ ?!  




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Matching set No. 091.

By the way, these notes were graded as AU in the Moore auction. They are crisp vibrant original uncirculated with one trivial counting crease. They would probably grade UNC-64 in today's sadly-eroded Third Party Grading marketplace!!!!

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I saw a matched pair of 1967 specimens sell on eBay in June-July this year, just before the new Charlton's came out.  As I recall the pair sold for $550-$600 USD.

Judging from the book values in Charlton's for the Multicolour and Birds specimen notes, the book value of the individual notes added together is more than book value for a complete set.  I haven't done the calculations for the 1954 and prior series specimen sets, but the result is probably the same.  While the 1967 specimens are currently priced at $350 each, I don't believe someone would pay $350 for one note without the other; they would expect to get a matched pair for $700.

For the 1967 specimens, while I might buy the serial numbered note alone, I would not buy the double-dated note without the corresponding serial numbered note.  It wouldn't be too difficult for an enterprising crook to take a genuine double-dated 1967 $1 bill and doctor it with convincing "Specimen" overstamps and perforations.  However it would be a lot harder to convert a regular-issue 1967 note with an I/P serial number into a specimen with the serial I/P 0000000.

Then again, someone with only a genuine serial numbered specimen could "manufacture" a double-dated specimen to go with the serial numbered one.  In any event, in my opinion a matched pair of 1967 specimens should be worth more than the sum of the value for each note.