Questions About Canadian Banknotes

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I have only recently started collecting Canadian notes as my main focus has always been American currency.
This brings me to a couple of questions that I'm hoping someone on here would be kind enough to answer for me.  First, I would like to know how replacement notes work (are they similar to US$ Star notes?), and how can one identify them?  Second, I would like to know what "changeover" pairs are.  Any help with this would be greatly appreciated - thanks!

First, I would like to know how replacement notes work (are they similar to US$ Star notes?),

First of all welcome to the forum.

In brief, current Canadian Journey Series notes do not have stars or asterisks as do the US replacement notes. At one point some Canadian series did have asterisks (Stars) and other Letters that signified that the note was a replacement but the current series uses ranges of numbers to determine if it is a replacement.
There is also a difference between what is known as a "sheet replacement" or an "SNR" Single Note replacement.
If you are interested in replacements I would suggest two things.
1) Purchase a Canadian Government Paper Money Catalogue (only about $20) which contains a wealth of information on Canadian currency and explains all types of information on not only replacements of each series, but has pictures and info on all other series describing reg issues, test notes, errors, changeovers, special numbers, short runs, prefixes....etc etc etc and market values..
2) Use the search function on this site and do a search on replacements....you will be amazed at all of the info that has already been posted including some great articles describing what replacements are, how they are found, those that are rare or common etc...if you still have questions Im sure someone will be able to answer them after that....
It would just be repetitive to start posting info that is so abundant already on this site
FRIEDSQUID

Hi there,

FRIEDSQUID offers excellent advice below, especially with regards to the Charlton standard catalogue on Canadian Government Paper Money. 

You may also get a feel for collecting the notes you mentioned by going to a library and picking up a catalogue, or by purchasing an older 2009/2010 catalogue online (cheaply).  I'm not trying to dissuade you in buying the latest catalogue which should soon come out.  My thinking is that you may wish to get a feel for this hobby by checking out an earlier edition.  If you are looking for "Star" replacements or asterisk designated replacement notes than you may want to focus on the 1954 or 1969 Multicolour series.

As to your question regarding "changeover pairs" I am guessing you mean notes that have either had a YEAR or SIGNATURE changeover in our latest Journey series (there are typically signature change overs in the earlier series).  A good example of a YEAR changeover would be from the $5 2004 Journey Jenkins/Dodge HOH prefix which then became a 2005 note after #5,970,000.  So to have both the 2004 and 2005 HOH notes would be a changeover pair. 

After 3,800,000 Knight/Dodge AOF notes were printed by BABN in 2002, the printers changed the AOF prefix to the signatures of Jenkins/Dodge in 2006.      So the 2002 & 2006 AOF notes with the different signatures would be a good example of a SIGNATURE/YEAR changeover pairs.

$10 FDZ prefix is a good example of a SIGNATURE changeover (Knight-Thiesssen to Knight/Dodge) but the same year (2001).   You may also be interested in short-prefixes which are notes that had short printing runs, and are therefore more sought after than regular notes.  A good example is the $10 Knight-Thiessen FDY or the more recent $10 Jenkins/Dodge BTV note.

And of course, you can find the changeovers in the earlier Birds, Multi-colour, 1954, and 1937 series.  For 1935, you may just want to get a decent note in a decent grade as these notes can get pretty pricey.

Fortunately, the newer catalogues are becoming more explicit in providing charts to signify changeovers though you can readily see these notes by their typical higher catalogue value.

Hope this helps...

Canada banknotes are fantastic but my favorites are any $1000 banknotes.