FPN and BPN on $5.00 Note.

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I have 3 notes, Macklem/Poloz and the serial numbers are HCG 5225025, HCG 5227748, HCG 5229092.  The plate numbers are 28, 3, 41.  Does the bank note company print several batches of notes and grab them randomly for numbering.  Doesn't seem to be any consistency in the order of plate numbers.  I would have expected the same plate number for these since they are so close together.

Louis

They are position numbers, not plate numbers.  Each subject on a 45-note sheet has a position number.  Numbers run from 01 to 49 on CBN notes (10, 20, 30 and 40 are not used).  

I have 3 notes, Macklem/Poloz and the serial numbers are HCG 5225025, HCG 5227748, HCG 5229092.  The plate numbers are 28, 3, 41. 

Louis

The skip number used in the more recent prefixes and all of the 5's and 10's found so far has been 200. That is the reason you are having notes which are spaced close enough but with different position numbers.

Compare this to the skip number used in older notes which was anywhere from 1000 to 8000.

The skip number or interval determines the continuous sequence of notes with the same Position Numbers. So if skip number is 200 only those many notes will have same position number.

They are position numbers, not plate numbers.  Each subject on a 45-note sheet has a position number.  Numbers run from 01 to 49 on CBN notes (10, 20, 30 and 40 are not used).  

It is interesting how the terminology comes about and is used. In most recent literature in the Canadian numismatic world the changeover from the use of plate number to position number has been well documented. Everyone understands that.

Yet I have found that some of the official channels at BoC use plate numbers in their correspondence.

Is there any publication from the BoC that shows how they officially refer to those numbers?

The US still officially calls these numbers as plate numbers and from a printing perspective their processes are essentially the same for the discussion of these numbers.

Here is the link to an official document from US Government that identifies it as such.

https://uscurrency.gov/sites/default/files/download-materials/en/CEP_Dollars_In_Detail_Brochure.pdf.

The US still officially calls these numbers as plate numbers and from a printing perspective their processes are essentially the same for the discussion of these numbers.

A colleague just corrected this. The US does have a separate plate number and a position number indicator on each note. So although the printing processes are the same the Canadian bank notes do not show which plate each note comes from.

There can be three or four different plates corresponding to each of the intaglio imprints at the same position number. The US bank notes choose to show this and the Canadian bank notes do not show this.