Queen Elizabeth II, face on Canada's $20 note, dead at 96

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The longest-serving monarch of Canada and England has passed away today.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/queen-elizabeth-ii-longest-reigning-monarch-in-british-history-dead-at-96/ar-AA11BNeN?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=6981bbfbb7f948378dec5838c4cbde64

It looks like, for the first time since the 1954, the Bank of Canada will likely be changing the portrait on our $20 bills and coinage in the near future. I can see a new vertical $20 bill looming.

Last time the monarch changed, it took nearly a year before coins were changed, and more than two years for bank notes. I expect we will see a new $5 first (HOW long have we been waiting for that now??) before a new $20.

The million dollar question is, will Charles' face ever make it onto the $20 (or any other denomination) or will this be the opportunity to get rid of the monarch altogether?  Coins are obviously another story.

It took us 2 years to put QEII on the banknotes (& what a devilish enterprise that became!  ). 

Great Britain & Jamaica took 8 years. I think the average was 2-4 years. The main thing is it doesn't happen overnight.

I don't think it will take 2 years since the technology is different today but I would guess it will take up to 2 years. I suspect the transition will depend on a number of factors (when the BoC feels like a refresh is in order for the $20). 

The vertical $5 was supposed to come out in 2021 wasn't it? It has taken forever. I think with the successes of the Better Than Cash Alliance, Covid & CDN's rapid acceptance of going digital (less need of cash), self-check outs imposed on us, there won't be any rush- but I could be wrong.

 I think we will see the new vertical $20 notes in 4 years at the earliest. Until then we will likely see another print run of QEII $20 notes with current design, possibly followed by the current design with Charles or another person.

I think we will see the new vertical $20 notes in 4 years at the earliest. Until then we will likely see another print run of QEII $20 notes with current design, possibly followed by the current design with Charles or another person.

-You could be right.  Last year, when I would withdraw 100 Twenties, I was surprised at how many 35% were still old BS_ or BI_ (2012) prefixes, about 35% FI_ FV_ FS_ M-C & then about 20-30% newer W-P (FW_, FV_, FY_) and about 5-10% (or less) of W-P FZ_ notes.  My point being that new prefixes from the TWENTY denomination are being held in escrow & not being released like the other more updated ($5, $50 & $100) denominations.  There are still a huge amount of FZ_ notes to be released yet & they are not wearing out like the paper (just not being used much).

-You could be right.  Last year, when I would withdraw 100 Twenties, I was surprised at how many 35% were still old BS_ or BI_ (2012) prefixes, about 35% FI_ FV_ FS_ M-C & then about 20-30% newer W-P (FW_, FV_, FY_) and about 5-10% (or less) of W-P FZ_ notes.  My point being that new prefixes from the TWENTY denomination are being held in escrow & not being released like the other more updated ($5, $50 & $100) denominations.  There are still a huge amount of FZ_ notes to be released yet & they are not wearing out like the paper (just not being used much).

To add some suspense… This image of a Wilkins-Macklem $20 comes from a Chinese collector. Could be a fake, but what would be the point? It has been a while since the latest print run (FZ_ notes) has been issued, we may see a new print run soon.

Here is the new design!

Thanks for sharing AZ! Apparently, she had a great sense of humour so I'm sure she would approve:
https://youtu.be/u6CuboZoc38

-That $20 with his smile is pretty amusing! 

Here is the Bank of Canada's "Portraits in Time: link:
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/bank-note-series/commemorative-notes/portraits-in-time/

-But on a more serious note (or should I speculate), the question remains whether the BoC will use new signatures (Rogers-Macklem for eg) with FZT as the change-over? Will the remaining FZT be held back to support the new changing of the guard?

But on a more serious note (or should I speculate), the question remains whether the BoC will use new signatures (Rogers-Macklem for eg) with FZT as the change-over? Will the remaining FZT be held back to support the new changing of the guard?

Notes printed in 2020 have Wilkins-Macklem signatures.
Notes printed in 2021 have Lane-Macklem signatures.
Notes printed in 2022 or later will have Rogers-Macklem signatures.

It is entirely possible that a new batch of QEII $20 notes with prefixes FZT-FZZ and FL_ was produced during any of these years so the last QEII notes may have any of the 3 signature combinations. If that is the case I am pretty certain that these notes will not be held back and destroyed and will be issued sometime soon.

CBC article about this topic. The media is notoriously bad at writing currency-related articles, there always seem to be plenty of factual errors. But this one is actually quite good:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/king-charles-canadian-money-1.6578839

The Queen will be buried in Windsor Castle tomorrow.  I think that this is the perfect vignette for her from the 1935 series of bank notes.

This is my favourite portrait of her (& probably why she remained on our $20):