I also noticed you reported a $100 HJB prefix to the SNDB (current low at this point) - early in February.  Is HJB starting to become common in your location now?

No, HJB is not very common yet. I have only ever seen that HJB note, but have seen 5 HJC notes.

Also, what is the latest $20 prefix found in your location lately?

The newest $20 prefix I've seen here is FZZ.

March 17th finds:

Today, I picked up $100 in dimes and to my surprise, there were treasures inside!

Highlights include:

80 US cents
A colour 2021 dime
A 2012 dated ten cent coin from Barbados
A 5 pence coin from the UK dated 1991
And best of all, a badly mangled 1964 silver dime!

Mangled or not, free silver is always fun to find!

Enjoy!
Dean

Barely more than 3 million were printed, if I recall.  Makes me wonder if all of the FDS prefix got issued (including the very narrow 3 million range), or if some of the higher 2 million onwards never got released the same way $5 ANU released fewer than 3 million despite having printed nearly 7 million?

The number of FDS prefix $10s printed was 3,140,000 according to the Charlton Catalogue.
The highest numbered FDS prefix note that I have in my possession is FDS2984691.  I have not yet encountered an FDS prefix note higher than 3,000,000.

It is possible that the Bank of Canada ordered a halt to the distribution of multicolour $10s and the destruction of remaining stocks when the Birds $10 was put into circulation.

On a related topic, I recall seeing large volumes of consecutive 1979 multicolour $20 replacement notes being released in 1993 from CIBC "Instant Teller" machines.  I remember one time when my mom withdrew some money and the machine dispensed 10 consecutive "5100" replacements.

I was a kid and I spent all of my money to buy a new Nintendo game, so I couldn't afford to ask her to keep one of those notes.

This event with the 1979 replacements happened months after the "new" birds of Canada notes were released and were dispensed by the bank machines.  For several weeks afterward, this CIBC branch dispensed a mixture of "new" birds $20s and 1979 replacement notes from both printers,5100 and 5160.

Why would the Bank of Canada go out of its way in some cases to hold back and destroy large stocks of notes in some cases while allowing large volumes of replacement notes from a newly obsolete series which were not intended to be released consecutively en masse into circulation?

My thought is that in mid to late 1993, there was a sudden unexpected demand for $20 bills and the printing companies could not fulfill a rush order so the Bank of Canada met the demand by "scraping the bottom of the barrel" and released any unissued stock that they had in the vaults.  The $20 was and still is the workhorse denomination in the economy so the Bank of Canada couldn't wait for the printers to catch up.

With $10 notes being relatively less popular in circulation, maybe the Bank of Canada could afford to destroy new old stock of multicolour notes and begin the withdrawal of the old series $10s while waiting for the new Birds series notes to arrive.

Thoughts?

Dean

I realized something regarding the large B and large F in the first position of serial numbers. I recognize this font style used on the serial numbers of American currency back in the day (the U.S. may still use it today), and I am thinking the big B and big F may have been just a stopgap measure until the Bank of Canada got a new die created for the smaller B and eventually smaller F on a regular basis.  The small B for the first position was definitely in place by late 1989, and the small F was used in the first position on a regular basis by late 1994 or early 1995.

No large G was used for printer letter G on the $5 notes, possibly because the decision on the $2 bill's demise was finalized and enshrined into law by late 1994, and the final supply of twos were printed by late 1994, but its demise was not announced until the Federal Budget in late February 1995 (the $2 bill used denominational letter G, so the ceasing of printing $2 bills in 1994 meant one less denominational letter at that point, so there was no need to create a new die for G like they likely did with B and F).  And there was no large H for the $5 notes in the early 2000s because of the looming serial number font change for all five of the current banknotes and the phasing out of the letter/number dies that was in use from 1969 through 2004.

I recall seeing an FDS in the 1.7 million range, and it had the small F variety.  I even admit to being so jealous that I wanted an FDS too (I did finally get one in October 1991, but it was under 1 million and had the large F).

FDS was a very rare prefix to come by, especially in Atlantic Canada.  Barely more than 3 million were printed, if I recall.  I remember seeing a small amount of FDR in early summer, and shortly after that the new Birds issue $10s appeared.  Makes me wonder if all of the FDS prefix got issued (including the very narrow 3 million range), or if some of the higher 2 million onwards never got released the same way $5 ANU released fewer than 3 million despite having printed nearly 7 million?

March 15th finds:

My March Break finds had a couple of interesting notes stick out.

The first note is a journey $20 with the bank transit number 02722-004.

A quick Google search reveals this information:

TD Bank
Liverpool Branch
1790 Liverpool Road
Pickering, Ontario
L1V 1V9

Pretty neat!

The second note is this 1973 $1.  Somebody coloured in the letters at the bottom of the note on the back.
Can you imagine how cool these notes would have been if they had red coloured lettering and numbers contrasting with the green?  (Except if you are red/green colour blind, of course). 

Enjoy!
Dean

March 15th:  March Break madness! part 3:

I acquired this small lot of paper money via trade today.  Nothing special, but it was still nice to receive paper notes!


Enjoy!
Dean

March 15th:  March Break Main Branch Madness!

I went to the Main branch and the teller was kind enough to give me some paper notes.  Nothing special in the lot, but there was one CDF polymer $10 that of course was ripped and repaired with tape.  There were a lot of journey $20s in the mutilated pile…I wish I could afford to take them all!


Enjoy!
Dean

March 15th:  March Break madness!  Part 2.

I went to a couple of banks on Wednesday and I managed to get some paper notes.
They are nothing special, but I’ll take any paper money I can get!

Enjoy!
Dean

March 15th:
March Break Madness, part 1.

I have found a lot of stuff this week.  Let’s begin with some coins!

I hunted through some quarters and dimes and I managed to pick put a few coloured coins,
$4.45 in US change,
A UK 5 pence from 1990
Singapore 10 cents 2017
Six 1968 nickel alloy dimes
A 1991 dime
And best of all, a 1946 silver dime!

Enjoy!
Dean