1937 Canadian banknote series: Difference between revisions

The 1937 Series was the second series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar issued by the Bank of Canada. This was the first series of bilingual Canadian banknotes, as the 1935 Series was a dual-language series with French banknotes issued in Quebec and English banknotes issued in the rest of Canada. This series was created because of the introduction of the Bank of Canada Act, which required Canadian banknotes to be bilingual. In this series, English was always on the left.

With the exception of the $50 and $1000 notes, the colours introduced to the notes on this series remain to this day (or until they were no longer produced).

The banknotes were issued into circulation on 19 July 1937, at which time the Bank of Canada began gradually removing banknotes from the 1935 Series from circulation. The $1000 banknote was issued several years later, as it as primarily used by chartered banks, who had a sufficient supply of the 1935 Series $1000 banknote.

Background

In the House of Commons on 2 June 1936, Conservative member of parliament Thomas Langton Church protested against the requirement of bilingual banknotes in the Bank of Canada Act, stating there was no authority for it in the British North America Act, and that it had not been an issue during the 1935 federal election. He favoured printing dual-language banknotes (distinct English and French banknotes) as had been done for the 1935 Series. Other conservative members of the 18th Canadian Parliament, such as Robert Smeaton White, supported the Liberal Party of Canada majority government of William Lyon Mackenzie King to print bilingual banknotes.

The death of George V on 20 January 1936 was another factor for the Bank of Canada to introduce a new series of banknotes. It created designs for new banknotes incorporating the portrait of Edward VIII, but when he abdicated on 11 December 1936]] in order to marry Wallis Simpson, the Bank of Canada rushed to prepare new designs. These used portraits of King George VI, who ascended the throne on 11 December 1936.

Banknotes

The banknotes retain the "classical elements of the design" of the 1935 Series, and the reverse of most banknote denominations retain the allegorical themes and figures of the 1935 Series. The design of these banknotes has greater uniformity and consistency than the 1935 Series, with the obverse having a framed numeral in the top corners and the written value of each denomination framed in the lower corners, with English on the right and French on the left. The allegorical figures have the same frame in each denomination, unlike the 1935 Series, and are flanked by a large framed numeral representing the denomination's value.

All banknotes in the series measure 152.4 by 73.025 millimetres (6.000 by 2.875 in).

Denomination	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	Printed	Issued
$1	Green	King George VI	Agriculture allegory	2 January 1937	19 July 1937
$2	Terra cotta	King George VI	Harvest allegory	2 January 1937	19 July 1937
$5	Blue	King George VI	Electric power allegory	2 January 1937	19 July 1937
$10	Purple	King George VI	Transportation allegory	2 January 1937	19 July 1937
$20	Olive green	King George VI	Fertility allegory	2 January 1937	19 July 1937
$50	Orange	King George VI	Modern Inventions allegory	2 January 1937	19 July 1937
$100	Brown	John A. Macdonald	Commerce and industry allegory	2 January 1937	19 July 1937
$1000	Rose pink	Wilfrid Laurier	Security allegory	2 January 1937

Each denomination had a distinct colour, and this set of denomination colours would be used for all subsequent banknote series. The Bank of Canada modified the colours used from the 1935 Series in part to address the issue that some banknotes could not be easily distinguished in low light. This was particularly problematic for the $1 and $2 banknotes, which the The St. Maurice Valley Chronicle of Trois-Rivières stated in an article that the green hue of the $1 banknote and the blue hue of the $2 banknote made the obverse appear similar, and that the more distinct colours of the reverse could be "confused in artificial light". The Bank of Canada chose to design the $2 banknotes using terracotta red as its dominant colour, and also changed the colour of the $5 banknote to blue.

The series only contained three portraits, which were centrally positioned on the obverse of the banknote on which they were included to accommodate the introduction of bilingual text. The portrait of George VI wearing an admiral's uniform appearing on six of the banknotes was based on a photograph taken by Bertram Park, for which an engraving was made by Robert Savage of ABN. It had been used on the $50 banknote of the 1935 Series. The two exceptions were the $100 banknote, which had a portrait of John A. Macdonald, and the $1000 banknote, which had a portrait of Wilfrid Laurier.

Printing

The Canadian Bank Note Company printed the $1, $20, $50, $100, and $1000 banknotes, and The British American Bank Note Company (now BA International) printed the $2, $5, and $10 banknotes.

Legacy

Ultimately, the "production of bilingual notes was widely endorsed by parliamentarians and by the public".

Because the colour of the $5 banknote was changed to blue, the Bank of Canada "recalled and cancelled 3,644,000" of the 1935 series blue $2 banknotes to avoid confusion.

References

• Cross, W.K., ed. (1997). The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money (10th ed.). Toronto: The Charlton Press. ISBN 0889681902. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Cuhaj, George S., ed. (2010). Standard Catalog Of World Paper Money General Issues 1368-1960. Krause Publications. ISBN 9781440216350. ISSN 1538-2001. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Powell, James. A History of the Canadian dollar. Bank of Canada. ISBN 0662281233. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• The Art and Design of Canadian Bank Notes (PDF). Bank of Canada. 6 December 2006. ISBN 0660632462. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
• "1937 Series". Bank Note Series, 1935 to present. Bank of Canada, archived at Collections Canada. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
• "1937 Series, the first bilingual series". Currency Museum, Bank of Canada.
• "Bilingual bank notes the latest in Canada". Milwaukee Journal. 19 July 1937.
• "Tense scene as McGeer makes attack on govt". The Ottawa Evening Citizen. Vol. 93, no. 299. 3 June 1936.
• "The new bank notes". The St. Maurice Valley Chronicle. 18 April 1935.