1986 $5 banknotes - serial numbers

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

I am very new to Canadian Paper Money collecting - have armed myself with the Charlton Catalogue ready to go! I have some questions about my two 1986 $5 banknotes - both are Crow Bouey, with serial numbers ENL and ENC prefixes respectively. And one more - the BPN on both notes are yellow - and I cannot read them, even with a jeweller's loupe. Is there a secret to it?

Thanks so much for any assistance - appreciated!

They might show up better on a black and white photocopy.

Thank you for the warp-speed response, Bob - much appreciated. I tried photocopying the banknotes, not helpful. Also peered at them through my camera, set at "close-up" without effect. I'm sure I can find a way . . . . !

My other question was not well-worded - the serial numbers beginning with ENL and ENC - are these significant? I've been studying my Charlton and am still a little confused as to how the numbers work . . .sorry for all the "newbie" questions! I'll stop now - but would appreciate a response concerning the serial number letters. The signators are Coyne-Bouey. Thanks again.

My other question was not well-worded - the serial numbers beginning with ENL and ENC - are these significant?

The prefixes ENL and ENC are common both with full runs. Nothing special

The signators are Coyne-Bouey

If you are still referring  to the 1986 notes the signatures are Crow Bouey

sorry for all the "newbie" questions! I'll stop now

This forum looks forward to questions from everyone..how else are you going to learn....we all started as newbies at one time  and I doubt there is anyone that knows it all...

Thank you, friedsquid! I think I need new glasses . . . . appreciate your pointing that Huge Error out to me - and thanks for your patience! 

the serial numbers beginning with ENL and ENC - are these significant? I've been studying my Charlton and am still a little confused as to how the numbers work

The Charlton has a lot of useful info re: the prefixes serial numbers of each series.  At first glance it can be quite overwhelming. It is quite understandable to be confused since there is a significant amount of info which takes some time to assimilate and process.  I'll try to untangle some of this info below:

If you have a 23rd 2011 Edition* then you will find that the ENC prefix note you have is listed on page 293 under a:
"Checklist for Prefix(Sic) Letters For 1986-1991 Issues"
and in this table below you will find that:
 
BC-56a (regular note /first prefix combination)       $5         1986 Crow-Bouey has EN (A-Z) full run of notes printed (000000-9999999)
That means nearly 10,000,000 notes of ENA, ENB, etc were printed /released

The only significant piece of info about these notes is that they were printed with a regular (yellow back position)

Page 300 has the book value ranges of this ENC & ENL note and also beside BC-56a the Quantity Printed (220,000,000) which may give you a better understanding that only notes in UNC (Uncirculated with minor flaws) approximates at $35 whereas a  GUNC (GEM Uncirculated or flawless note) could fetch $50 for the right buyer. 
Info on GRADING can be found in the page xv of the INTRODUCTION to your Charlton.

You will then also note that the next Prefix series is EO (A-G)   - the same as above
and then in the next row- EOH which has been printed up to 2,599,999 (Yellow BPN) These notes will be desirable to many collectors since there change up due to the printing of a new (Blue back position #) - the next EOH listed below (from 2,600,000 - 9,999,999) See page 300 estimated book value of the EOH Yellow BPN note

And then (in next row)
BC-56aA ENX 0 up to 2247351* (* asterisk usually signifies that the number printed is an estimate or that the number released may vary from the number printed)
These are significant as the last "A" from the BC-56aA signifies that the note served as a replacement to defective notes (thus less printed)
See page 300 estimated book value of the ENX Yellow BPN note BC-56aA will have significantly higher Book Value (BV) $360- $400 

If you stay on page 300 and look the fifth note listed (BC-56a-i or Crow-Bouey; EOH Blue BPN) you can see that while there are 7,400,000 estimated to be printed/released that it has an even higher BV then the ENX replacement note.  It is important to remember that the numbers don't always tell the whole story-that the colour of the BPN would have been discovered long after the note was released so many of the BC-56a-i notes were likely overlooked and not collected by collectors.
 
There is a lot more info about the various Back Position Numbers on page 292.

*If you have the latest 24th edition you will find most of the info to be similar with perhaps some new info (notes shown in colour) and typically varying book values.

Hope this helps explain how the book is organized for the $5.00 BIRDS.