$2 big B and small b

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

Hi members

I have never really understood the big B and small b on the 1986 $2 bills.  I know they are found in BBP,BBX, BGA-BGZ.  I did look at the wiki site but clarification would be helpful.

What I do not understand is:

Why were they done?
Is there like a Big B/small b in like BBA?  If so what does that prove? An endpoint or start point for what?
hat makes them so unique.  Is it because of the two printings being done.
Are there any other prefixes that have the big B/smAll b.

If a member or members can help me with this, I would love to hear the explanation.

Thanks
Polarbear   

The variation of B's occur only in the first B of the prefix on the left and/or the right. This variety occurs in prefix BBP, BBX and BGA-BGZ. Varieties in which both B's are small are the common "standard" version. There appears to be interest in the notes that one small B/one large B and both large B's because they aren't very common. So far there is no confirmed range for these notes and they appear to occur intermintently throught the prefix listed above.

Thanks JB-2007
 for the information.  Do we know why this was done?  Am I correct to assume it could be from 2 different printers companies.    Always great to get more clarification from you members.  Thanks

cheers

polarbear

Do we know why this was done?  Am I correct to assume it could be from 2 different printers companies.

We know that all prefixes BBA-BBN are of the "Large B" variety, and everything BBR-BBZ are of the "Small B" variety, it seems that there was an intentional change, but this change didn't happen all at once.  One possible explanation is that this change happened without disrupting the printing process and numbering heads were changed one by one.   The recurrence in the BG series could be explained by having to re-use some of those "Large B" numbering heads as temporary replacements, or their reappearance could have been accidental.  I doubt anyone knows for sure at this point, and finding out would be nearly impossible.

One possibility that I believe has very little merit or likelihood is that these notes were printed by CBN.  There is no evidence to suggest that this is even a possibility.  The "rules" were much more strict in those days than they are today.

We know that all prefixes BBA-BBN are of the "Large B" variety, and everything BBR-BBZ are of the "Small B" variety,

Thanks BWJM, i learned something new. Up until today i always thought that it was printing errors that caused the B's to come out larger or smaller.  That explains why we have two varieties in BBP... it's the changeover. That means there should be a confirmed changeover point somewhere in that prefix.

I encourage anyone following this thread to look at the following page on our Wiki site:

http://wiki.cdnpapermoney.com/index.php?title=Big_B_Small_B_Register

For BBP, it appears that the changeover could be at BBP3500000.  BBX appears to change at BBX0900000.  Other prefixes in BGx are not nearly as clean-cut.

This page also introduces new terminology: Big/Big, Big/Small, Small/Big and Small/Small.  This is because the "Big B" could appear in either or both sides of the note.  Two possible sizes in two possible locations = four total varieties.

As usual, to help refine this information, you are encouraged to send your own notes to wiki@cdnpapermoney.com and one of our Wiki Editors will (eventually) get it added to the list.