As I'm sure you are aware (or you wouldn't be here seeking advice) - Information is power, so to start-- go to the library (or book store) and get your hands on a new Charlton Guide to Canadian paper money (2007). Try to get as much info as you can.
Next, with clean hands, and a lot of care, go through your notes and document their serial numbers/signature combinations, and find out what the estimated catalogue value of each note is. You want to either keep a spread-sheet, or some kind of charted inventory, and have a few columns available for estimated grade, and book value. You may want to pick up some mylar currency holders too, so that you can sell your notes individually. Place the notes carefully in their holders, and organize them so they're easy to keep track.
If you've read any of the forum threads you'll quickly understand how the condition of each note is of primary importance. A good thing to do (maybe) is to attend a show, or dealer's store, and to take a few of your notes, and try to grade them according to the definitions at the front of your Charlton guide. (If you're at the store make sure you're not interrupting a sale, and to buy some currency holders-- or something for the dealer's time!) After some practice (and if the notes truly are high grade) you'll probably see the difference between an UNC note and an AU note, and be able to grade each one. You should record that grade on your inventory list. Typically, if you have many common notes, than you may want to offer them in a sequential combination, or as you suggested one at a time (if you're in no rush for the money).
MANY, many, many Canadians have hordes of $1 and $2 (and more will be found) so you may wish to sell a few of your common notes in sequences in order to clear them. Even the change-overs, and rarer prefixes are unlikely to sell for the book value you see in the guide-- so don't be too surprised or disapointed when this happens. The book value of a note is a guide intended to indicate the highest price a collector may buy a note if he/she wants that note for his/her collection. For rarer notes this value may be below the actual price a collector is willing to pay.
As far as the market goes: I think a fairly consistent trend is that rare paper money keeps going up while the common stuff stays pretty much the same year after year. In fact, you'll even see stuff you thought was rare, decrease in price on the market place as collectors get wise to their availability.
IMO: eBay, and numerous auctions, seem to have impacted the price of notes -- mostly driving the prices down. Online: you tend to see a high quantity of regular notes auctioned off and the last time I saw the market increase for all notes was back in 2004 when there seemed to be no end in sight of a buying frenzy. That little peak faded. At live auctions: you tend to see mostly rare notes -- and they have performed strongly in the past three years. The problem with live auctions is the added buyer's premiums, taxes, etc that put an extra 15% on top of the hammer price.
My recommendation to you is to sell them now: especially since you're likely holding onto a lot of common notes with no real significant collector value. Like most people who discover a horde, estate, or safe find, the large majority of notes were put away with as a stash of cash -- not as collectables. If they were saved as a "collectible" it is more likely that the person who saved them saved them only because he/she knew that $1 and $2 were going to be an artefact of a past era, since they were being phased out (rather than according to a significant serial numbers/or rare prefixes). The problem with your venture to sell them on a separate site as a true collectible is that there are a huge abundance of 1973 outstanding $1 and a massive amount of outstanding 1986 $2.00 so good luck to you!
Canadian Paper Money
