1937 $1 Specimen CONTEST!! 2 Prizes!

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

Hello all,

      Its been rather slow on the forums lately so I thought I would make a contest in regards to my most recent acquisition. To be fair since we have a mixture of pro and beginner collectors as members there will be two prizes. Users with less than 100 posts will be allocated one prize and Users with more than 100 posts will get the other.

Please kindly submit your answers via PRIVATE MESSAGE ONLY. The contest will end Sunday at 8pm EST, after which two winners will be chosen at random from the pool of members that have answered the question correctly.

ONE Submission / Answer per person [Only your 1st answer/message will count towards the contest]

Following the contest I will also further the discussion with a few relevant questions.

     *** THE CONTEST ****
 
     Please tell me in as much detail as you can what is interesting or special about the picture below. Detail is key.

Thanks for all the submissions =) I will announce the winners asap!

CONGRATS TO: Uscanuck1ca [Members <100 Posts] and Venga50 [Members >100 Posts]

You have each won an UNC 100 Trillion Dollar Zimbabwe Note (Please PM me with you addresses)

 [Random.org random number generator was used]

The correct answer was any answer along the lines of the following:

1) Should be BC-21S-ii NOT BC-21S-1

2) It is a "WIDE PANEL" not a "NARROW PANEL"
    -WIDE Panels have prefixes T/L or J/M which this is a J/M
    -Narrow Panels have a prefix A/A or H/A which this is not

3) Also I do not believe this note was sold as part of the BOC auction back in Nov of 1999 because those 
    notes (of which 8 were sold) had perforations "SPECIMEN" and not the word "SPECIMEN" in red...

4)They have 4 holes by the signature area of the notes
   The note has the word SPECIMEN printed in red ink leading me to believe it came from another source than
   the BOC auction

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Yes I do own this note, I picked it up early last week from a dealer in the US. This is definitely a case of "Buy the note and not the holder". I was doing my weekly online scans of auction/dealer sites when I spotted this. Originally the asking price really turned me off and I almost dismissed it, but then decided to refer to my latest copy of Charlton's Canadian Government Paper Money 23rd Edition since it isn't the type of note you see every day. Low and behold I realized that there was more to the note than meets the eyes and the 4 points listed above helped solidify my belief that I had something very special infront of me.

From this came 2 questions of which 1 has already been answered/resolved

1) Since this was an error by PMG in grading would they correct it?
   
    The answer is yes. I have spoken with PMG already and they have confirmed that they goofed and that
    they would accept the note for re-holdering at no charge [including free shipping] with same day
    turnaround time. Im debating whether or not to take them on the offer because of the value of the note.
    However at the same time the thought that it would be in PMG's new 2nd generation holder with the
    correct information on it also has its appeal.

    What do you think? Should I keep it as is or send it to get re-holdered?

2) As part of the answer to this contest "I do not believe this note was sold as part of the BOC auction
    back in Nov of 1999 because those notes (of which 8 were sold) had perforations "SPECIMEN" and not the
    word "SPECIMEN" in red...".

    According to Charlton's Canadian Government Paper Money 23rd Edition  "Specimen notes exist
    [from other sources] which are not perforated "Specimen"."

    IF this is the case, what "other sources" could these types of specimen notes have originated from?


--Wizard1

ps. The Lack of the 3 Diagonal Specimen Perforations makes this note have much more eye appeal imho


 

> " IF this is the case, what "other sources" could these types of specimen notes have originated from? "

My understanding is that they were sent out to banks before entering the regular notes into circulation this was to familiarize the bank employees with the note. Reference Charlton page XIV. These notes I believe were to be destroyed as they were never intended for circulation but I can see some bank employees keeping them, I sure would have.


 

Considering that by getting it properly labeled adds approx. $800 to the book value, I think it may be worth your time.

Considering that by getting it properly labeled adds approx. $800 to the book value, I think it may be worth your time.

I think the note is worth what the note is worth and any collector would obviously see that the TPG made an error in the description...that being said I would also get the note re slabbed since there is no cost to the buyer...now only if it gets lost in the mail 

I think the note is worth what the note is worth and any collector would obviously see that the TPG made an error in the description...that being said I would also get the note re slabbed since there is no cost to the buyer...now only if it gets lost in the mail 

That's basically what im thinking. Definitely everyone here noticed the error by PMG off the bat, and yes they did offer to re-slab and ship it back for free.... however.... there's the issue with it getting damaged/lost/stolen in the mail   .

I personally have never submitted to PMG before (or any US TPG for that matter), can anyone tell me if they offer optional shipping insurance? I'd feel much more comfortable mailing it to them if they ship it back insured.

No contest here, just an image of a note with something not quite right about it.  See if you can spot the problem.

{http://www.give-a-buck.com/special/farmers1.JPG}

No contest here, just an image of a note with something not quite right about it.  See if you can spot the problem.

I don't have much knowledge on these types of notes, but could it be the grade VF-20 doesn't match the comments given for the note, that is tear, Repaired hole, stain, residue. If this is the case wouldn't the note then be graded VG at best?
Its a pretty nice looking note anyhow!

The grade is the grader's opinion, and is subjective, so one cannot say that the assigned grade is absolutely right or wrong.  There is something else that is absolutely wrong in the picture, though.

I believe the catalogue number is incorrect
The one BCS has is for the twenty five shillings note
and the signature sure doesn't look correct either,
but then again, my eyes are really bad...that's why I'm not a TPG 

The note appears to be dated 1880 at the bottom right, while the holder says 1849.

I believe the catalogue number is incorrect
The one BCS has is for the twenty five shillings note
and the signature sure doesn't look correct either,
but then again, my eyes are really bad...that's why I'm not a TPG 

Your eyes did not fail you.  The actual catalogue number of the note is 280-14-04-08 because it is a five dollar note.  The catalogue number on the BCS holder is for a twenty five shillings note.

The note appears to be dated 1880 at the bottom right, while the holder says 1849.

The date is engraved next to the word Toronto, and it is 1849.  The serial number is handwritten at the top right.

Your eyes did not fail you.  The actual catalogue number of the note is 280-14-04-08 because it is a five dollar note.  The catalogue number on the BCS holder is for a twenty five shillings note.

Yipeee !!! I won the contest ...For my 2 prizes I would like 2 free pieces of advice

The BCS's description of the issuer is also wrong.  They say it is Farmers Joint Stock Bank.  The issuer's correct name is Farmer's Joint Stock Bank.

You might say that a missing apostrophe is a minor nit to pick.  But honestly, if a grader is paying so little attention that they get the issuer's name wrong, what else are they missing?

I won't buy a Gewürztraminer wine either, if they omit the umlaut on the label.  If they can't get the label right, how much attention are they paying to what's inside the bottle?