CPM Forum
Canadian Notes => Bank of Canada Notes => Topic started by: BOBallcap on March 07, 2009, 07:44:35 pm
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I was a banker in my previous career (early to mid-1990s), and I remember seeing Canadian notes of $10,000 denomination. Nobody believes me when I tell them! I can't even find any reference to this denomination on the Internet. Can somebody provide some insight on this?
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What you are referring to is called a bank legal, they are not issued for regular circulation but are traded between banks.
You can see them in the Bank of Canada currency collection here.
http://www.currencymuseum.ca/eng/collection/view.php?objectid=1975.0025.00138.000
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@ BOBallcap: There was no such legitimate note issued by the Canadian government at any time.
As Gary_T points out, the Dominion of Canada did, at various times, issue "Bank Legal" notes in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $50,000. There is no record, even in the Bank of Canada's National Currency Collection, of a $10,000 "Bank Legal". Even if there was a $10,000 Bank Legal, the use of these notes ceased in 1935 when the chartered banks were required to lodge cash reserves with the newly-formed Bank of Canada. No Bank Legals were ever in private hands, and the only known non-proof/specimen examples are in the National Currency Collection.
[edit]Once again, an expert has contacted me with a minor correction. It turns out that a single $1,000 Bank Legal did hit circulation in 1915 in Vancouver, presumably because a bank teller confused it with a legal tender note. The customer then paid his/her taxes with the note. The bank receiving the deposit from the Tax Dept wouldn't accept the note, so the Tax Dept had to work with T.C.Boville, the deputy minister of finance, to get their money. For more information, please refer to the July 1995 CPMS Newsletter. --BWJM[/edit]
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Unless it was one of these?
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/general/character/1986_1000.html
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The United States have issued $10,000 notes... perhaps it could have been that?