Charlton Canadian Government Paper Money

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

I am still working off a 2022 price guide. Should I buy a 2025 or wait for the 2026 to come out?

You've made it this far with the '22, so you're probably not buying or selling an awful lot. The 2026 should be out in a couple of months–you're almost there!

your not missing much. The newest guides now cost 49.97 and very little changes were made when comparing the 2025 edition to the 2023 edition. The only notable changes is the added info to the latest serial numbers/signatures printed and only a few minor price adjustments mostly confined to the older series notes.

Thank you

The catalogue was an invaluable asset 25 years ago but in this day and age you'll get a much more accurate view of the market by looking at auction results from TCNC, Geoffrey Bell, HA, eBay, etc.  It's still great for looking up factual information like serial number ranges, issue dates, etc.  I really wish they would publish a high quality catalogue less frequently for those of us who aren't looking up to date info on the latest series.

I agree with AL-Bob (that Charlton was an invaluable asset) a few years ago but regular updating is a debatable need with so much current online data at our fingertips. I have taken issue with many of their pricing tables (that they don't reflect well on reality) & have commented on the subject in this thread below:
https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=482595

This discussion raises some good points, in my opinion, about bank note pricing and values.  One member stated that Charlton is a great reference for bank note information.  Another good comment suggests that buying every edition may not be necessary.
 
Please - get at least one catalogue!  Many times, a novice collector has bought a note and afterwards asked me what it’s worth because they don’t own a catalogue.  A paper money catalogue is money well spent.

Charlton catalogue pricing is going to be steady and may appear to ignore the latest public transaction.  I have discussed this topic with many Charlton contributors (I have been a contributor) and pricing panel members.  This includes conversations with a former editor about this topic for years… decades!  The Charlton pricing panel has more transaction information and knowledge to draw from than we see online.  Their opinions also vary on this subject and the Charlton editor has to find some form of consensus.  These people have a thankless job and panel members know that they simply cannot please everyone.

I understand the comment that some notes appear to be slow to react to the latest result.  What is a fair statistical number of verified transactions to use to identify trends and influence the catalogue?  How are market manipulators weeded out?  How quickly are truly hard to find notes accommodated with reflected values?  Opinions vary and I’m good with that.

I recently purchased a high grade and valuable Bank of Canada note at a total cost of 58% of catalogue.  It was correctly graded and was offered in an online auction for everyone to see.  Should Charlton lower the catalogue values based on this one sale?  Would this cause an uproar because the catalogue went down?  We need to be mindful of price spikes up and down and how they may be statistical outliers.
 
I think this conversation illustrates some wisdom that long time collectors have learned.  Average collectors can use Charlton to find values of common notes.  Advanced collectors will need to do extra homework to understand why a note is worth more, and sometimes less, than the catalogue.  As with anything, putting in extra effort yields results.

JBN

..Please - get at least one catalogue!  Many times, a novice collector has bought a note and afterwards asked me what it’s worth because they don’t own a catalogue.  A paper money catalogue is money well spent.

Charlton catalogue pricing is going to be steady and may appear to ignore the latest public transaction.  I have discussed this topic with many Charlton contributors (I have been a contributor) and pricing panel members.  This includes conversations with a former editor about this topic for years… decades!  The Charlton pricing panel has more transaction information and knowledge to draw from than we see online.  Their opinions also vary on this subject and the Charlton editor has to find some form of consensus.  These people have a thankless job and panel members know that they simply cannot please everyone.

I understand the comment that some notes appear to be slow to react to the latest result.  What is a fair statistical number of verified transactions to use to identify trends and influence the catalogue?  How are market manipulators weeded out?  How quickly are truly hard to find notes accommodated with reflected values?  Opinions vary and I’m good with that.

I recently purchased a high grade and valuable Bank of Canada note at a total cost of 58% of catalogue.  It was correctly graded and was offered in an online auction for everyone to see.  Should Charlton lower the catalogue values based on this one sale?  Would this cause an uproar because the catalogue went down?  We need to be mindful of price spikes up and down and how they may be statistical outliers.
 
I think this conversation illustrates some wisdom that long time collectors have learned.  Average collectors can use Charlton to find values of common notes.  Advanced collectors will need to do extra homework to understand why a note is worth more, and sometimes less, than the catalogue.  As with anything, putting in extra effort yields results.
JBN

Very well put! The pricing panel, volunteer contributors & editor do an amazing job with the catalogue. I hope I wasn't coming off as negative towards Charlton (it wasn't my intent). I am always recommending new collectors to pick up & read "the book." It takes a bit of work & due diligence to apply the tables correctly but they're very helpful. 

My comments/input was meant more as an open discussion b/c there are other resources collectors are now using. The book cannot be paralleling the stock market (or hobby market) either & I think it does well to hit the middle ground (as a great starting point). 

I'll chime in to say that the Charlton catalogue is a national treasure, and luckily for us in the rest of the world, they gladly sell and ship internationally. It might sound excessive, but here's why I buy the latest edition each year:

• Most-recent details and pricing information. Sure, we can and often do debate the accuracy of the catalogue values, which is healthy and within our rights. I view those as well-informed guidelines, much like a "30 km/h" sign ahead of a road curve; sure, your car might be able to take it at 50, but most people wouldn't feel comfortable going that fast. Remember that $20 BSW that broke sales records at auction earlier this year? I was one of the bidders. I felt the Charlton figure was overly conservative given the scarcity of the note, and I raised my bid quite a bit accordingly. Ultimately it went for even more than I was willing to spend given the VF-35 condition, and I walked away without the note, but also without any buyers' remorse, knowing my bid was still loosely based on known figures given the condition. Sure, it would have been really nice to have the note, but I wouldn't have been happy paying as much as it went for (plus the auction fees on top).
• Annual editions. Do you all know how lucky you are? The Friedberg guide for US money comes out around every three years (sometimes four). The "Modern" version of the Pick catalogue (SCWPM) was last published in 2019, a whopping six years and one pandemic ago! Sure, we can say that year to year, not a whole lot changes. But I'd much rather be kept in the light with annual updates, as opposed to left fumbling in the dark with pre-pandemic values from 2019.
• Reasonable price. The Charlton is reasonably priced and gives you a lot of value for the price. The Friedberg guide for US paper money is cheaper, but it doesn't have the prefix-level detail or spiral binding, and it is printed on cheap plastic-like paper that resists writing. The Pick (SCWPM) is thicker but printed on cheap newspaper-like paper, entirely black/white, is extremely light on details, and is still more expensive.
• Support your home-grown businesses while you still can. You'll miss them if they ever go away.