Got the new $20 today.

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

Well, finally had some luck last night aften umpteen tries.

One of them belongs in the SNDB but it won't let me add it for some reason.

In SW Sask., and SE Alta. we are only getting BIE. So far I have ranges in 1.91, 3.03 and 0.52.

Those who have been trying multiple bank machines and had no luck finding the new 20's aren't lucky at all. The other day i withdrew a small amount of money for the first time in a long time (because usually i don't use cash) i wanted the journey 20's because a lot of vending machines and parking meters are still not programmed for the new 20's... anyway it gave me only the new polymer 20's.

Got 3 BSK today
Cheers. Polarbear

Got 3 BSK today
Cheers. Polarbear

Please add them to the SNDB!

Four different banks and credit unions in Winnipeg and Steinbach all said 'nope'.  Try again tomorrow!

I just went to SCU (lagimodier location) and picked up a bunch of new notes... also requested new notes from Royal and they will be in for me on Wed... (they are out there) Steinbach I have noticed has them "mixed" in  with the journeys at the tellers. 34 out of the 100 notes were the new polys.. BIG & BIH (with one BIE circulated)... a bunch of them ended up being consecutive so I'm not sure but I don't think there were any inserts. All the BIG and BIH were uncirculated.

This "security square" was first observed on late Birds series $20s about 10 years ago.  It has since been seen intermittently (or at least it was not observable on some notes) throughout the Journey series and into the polymer series.  There is no good answer as to what it is for; so far just a lot of guesses.

I got 4 BSL notes from a CIBC ATM in downtown Toronto today.  All 4 have that mysterious square on the back.  Has anyone tried looking at these squares under a UV or infra-red light?  If some notes have these squares and some don't, is it possible that these are some kind of test notes?

BTW, just in case anyone is curious...do NOT put the polymer notes into a microwave  ; the foil hologram will catch fire on these notes just like the Journey series.  I put one of my Frontier 20s in the microwave and it only took 2 seconds for the "zap".  I had my finger poised over the stop button so I wouldn't lose $20.00, but now the hologram looks as if someone took a thumb-tack and scratched lines into it.

Visited a few banks in Toronto and received the folloiwng prefixes: BSK, BSL, BIK, BIJ & BIN. Will update the data base shortly.

Venga, I checked all five prefixes I have received so far ... all have the 'square' on the reverse side of the note, on the right side of the monument, under the flag ... so I'm guessing this is the norm.

I got 4 BSL notes from a CIBC ATM in downtown Toronto today.  All 4 have that mysterious square on the back.  Has anyone tried looking at these squares under a UV or infra-red light?  If some notes have these squares and some don't, is it possible that these are some kind of test notes?

I've used both to look at some old notes a while back and saw nothing.  The odd note showed a VERY faint orange glow under UV.  I'm guessing that the square will respond, but it has to be a specific wavelength of light, probably in the ultraviolet range, and it is not a wavelength found in commonly available UV lights.  Of course I am just guessing and have nothing to back that up, nor the means to experiment.

Anyone got one of those light devices that they use on CSI to look for blood (and other) stains?  It might be helpful here.

This square is the norm, and was put on all note of the Journey's serie and on a part on the Birds serie (mostly on the 20$).  But this square is there for one reason.  The printer would not put something absolutely useless on the notes...And I put one year ago an image of this square, which fluoresces feebly under a black light.

I don't know exactly what is it and I didn't get any positive answer when I asked the question to a RCMP agent who was invited to our coin club to explain the new polymer note last February.  He wasn't aware of the existence of this square and wasn't able (or didn't wanted, I don't know) to tell us what is it.... Maybe the agent was instructed by his superiors to even not tell that this square is for...

All I was able to learn is there is some public security features (those one publicly known) and some secret (or confidential) ones.   I guess that this square is one of these  secret security features.

I have seen about 60 polymer notes in the $20 denomination and each of them has a square that is visible in natural light when viewed at a shallow angle.

I am wondering if it is there to prevent sticking of notes together. Is there raised printing on the backside where the square is?

I'm guessing that the square will respond, but it has to be a specific wavelength of light, probably in the ultraviolet range, and it is not a wavelength found in commonly available UV lights.  Of course I am just guessing and have nothing to back that up, nor the means to experiment.

I e-mailed the Bank of Canada about the mysterious square and this is their response:

This is in response to your email in which you requested information concerning a square on the polymer bank note.

Under some lighting conditions, certain underlying print patterns may become visible. These should not be used to authenticate notes. The Bank encourages the public to use the many security features of the polymer notes to authenticate them reliably.

So apparently the square is just an "underlying print pattern"...

I've used both to look at some old notes a while back and saw nothing.  The odd note showed a VERY faint orange glow under UV.  I'm guessing that the square will respond, but it has to be a specific wavelength of light, probably in the ultraviolet range, and it is not a wavelength found in commonly available UV lights. 

Check out this demo version of an online currency catalog: http://demo.icpress.ru/M_ENG/index.htm. The polymer $100 shown there has a similar square patch that glows magenta under UV light.

I e-mailed the Bank of Canada about the mysterious square and this is their response:

So apparently the square is just an "underlying print pattern"...

I think there was a miscommunication somewhere.  Underlying print patterns don't transcend multiple series of banknotes and exhibit hints of UV reflectivity.  I would suggest that the Bank of Canada personnel responding to your inquiry was referring to some other element of the design.