Trial drawings for reverse of 1937 Canadian $10 bill or the 1935 $2 bill. Part 1

<strong></strong>I have some large drawings from the British American Bank Note Company which I've been able to study recently. They're from the 1930s and&nbsp;were purchased from someone who bought them at a Christie's auction in the 1990s which contained a lot of material from the BABN. &nbsp;The first image is signed by the Canadian artist, Paul Goranson: <br><br><img src="http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/philodemean/IMG_8942.jpg" border="0" alt=""><br><br>This image and the others I'll present in following posts seem to me&nbsp;to me to be trial drawings for the vignette that appeared on the the reverse of the 1937 Canadian $10 bill and 1935 $2 bill. In other words, these seem to be submissions that were rejected in favor of the one that was finally chosen.&nbsp;Here is the back of the $10: <br><br><img src="http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/philodemean/e501c3e76bd9637c3c128efa4aa8cb60.jpg" border="0" alt=""><br><br><br>And there is a nice discussion on CoinTalk here by North49guy:&nbsp;<br><br>http://www.cointalk.com/t84302/<br><br>He gives an image of the draft vignette that was revised somewhat: &nbsp;<img src="http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/philodemean/1937billdraft.jpg" border="0" alt=""><br><br>Websites that discuss the vignette suppose that the top left reads "819" but I think instead that it reads B19. It's interesting that this image by Goranson has B1 in the top left corner and (scratched out) B17 in the bottom left.&nbsp;<br><br>More to come in other posts. &nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>

 

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I apologize that the other images didn't come through, especially the drawing I wanted to feature. I'll try again.

 

Here is a re-posting, which I hope works right this time. I'm sorry once again for blowing the images the first time.
I have some large drawings from the British American Bank Note Company which I've been able to study recently. They're from the 1930s and&nbsp;were purchased from someone who bought them at a Christie's auction in the 1990s which contained a lot of material from the BABN.
The first image is signed by the Canadian artist Paul Goranson:


This image and the others I'll present in following posts seem to me to me to be trial drawings for the vignette that appeared on the the reverse of the 1937 Canadian $10 bill and 1935 $2 bill. In other words, these seem to be submissions that were rejected in favor of the one that was finally chosen. Here is the back of the $10:

And there is a nice discussion on CoinTalk here by North49guy:

http://www.cointalk.com/t84302/

He gives an image of the draft vignette that was revised somewhat:


Websites that discuss the vignette suppose that the top left reads "819" but I think instead that it reads B19. It's interesting that this image by Goranson has B1 in the top left corner and (scratched out) B17 in the bottom left.​

Read more: http://www.cointalk.com/t187969/#ixzz1T9LMyPvj

 

Trial drawings for reverse of 1937 Canadian $10 bill or the 1935 $2 bill. Part 2

Here is the 2nd image of the drawing which seems to be a trial drawing for the vignette on the back of the 1937 $10 or 1935 $2.



This one doesn't have any numbers or letters I can discern, but it's certainly similar thematically to the image that was actually used in the end. It's got the divine-like figure in the middle and on the left and right one finds images of the Canadian train and shipping industry. It also apparently features electronics in the center, with the vacuum tubes. The person from whom these were purchased thinks that some of these in the lot from BABN may have ultimately ended up on stock certificates.

 

Trial drawings for reverse of 1937 Canadian $10 bill or the 1935 $2 bill. Part 3

This third image focuses on Canadian shipping. Although it isn't visible form the photograph, there is written in pencil in the bottom left "British Columbia Fishing" and in the right "Nova Scotia Fishing". It's unsigned, but I have a conjecture about the author, which I'll mention in the next posting. Observe also, the numbering in the top left corner.

 

Trial drawings for reverse of 1937 C $10 bill or the 1935 $2 bill. Pt 4 GEORGE FANAIS

Here is another poster that is signed, and by someone known to have worked for the BABN, George Fanais:




Although it's not visible in the first photograph, it has "E11" in the top left corner. Here is some information on George Fanais from the 1981 Glebe Report:

George Fanais graduated in 1941 at the age of 19, winning the Lieutenant-Governor General's award forproficiency in painting. He was hired by the British American Bank Note Company as successor to Emmanuel Hahn. He has created artfor stamps, cheques andcurrency. He was paid a full salary but only had to work two days a week. This freed him to pursue portrait painting. He painted leading industrialists suchas Benson Beach, Presidentof Beach Foundry and he also painted Prime Minister, Sir Robert Borden. Fanais was several times winner of the United Appeal Poster Contest.


I think that all the unsigned images I'm presenting are by George Fanais, but I would be grateful for any feedback. Two more posts and then I'll have images of all six currency drawing up.

 

Trial drawings for reverse of 1937 C $10 bill or the 1935 $2 bill. Pt 5 FANAIS?

Here is another of the drawings. It's unsigned, but it very much has the style of George Fanais. It appears to feature Canadian agriculture (in the center) factory production (left) and research (right). It has "rough development" pencilled in the left corner. Any feedback on these is welcome.

 

Trial drawings for reverse of 1937 C $10 bill or the 1935 $2 bill. Pt 6 FANAIS?

Here is the final image:



If anyone knows something about the history of the British American Bank Note Company and wants to comment, please do. My guess is that this is also by Fanais, but it's unsigned.

 

Wonderful vignettes to see, and thanks for the details behind them. The first thing I did was grab my copies of the Engraver's Line and the International Engraver's Line, and was surprised not to find an entry for Fanais in either one. Perhaps you already went down that path. You might also do some googling on the man, I've often found other artwork (oil paintings, etc) online that is a good match for banknote art, which can certainly help convince you that you've got the right artist. Good luck with the chase.

Dave

 

Why create multiple threads? Why not put everything in one thread?

 

Though I have to agree with Hobo on the multiple-thread issue, aside from that, boy, there were some beautiful designs for circulating notes before they started 'honoring' 'dead presidents' (and non prez's, like Franklin and Hamilton). They should get away from 'dead presidents' and put some artistry back into our circulating notes and coins.

 

A single thread will make it easier for interested people to follow and comment on. Also causes less problems in the future if people are searching threads.

I merged the threads. Welcome to the forum!

Jim

 

Thanks, Dave. Being new to all this, I didn't know to search the Engraver's Line and the International Envraver's Line, but I'll know in the future. I did find more about him on Google, though, including a 5 cent stamp he designed. Someone should write a history of the British American Bank Note Company, if it hasn't already been written.

Jeff

 

Thank you for merging those threads, and for the welcome, Jim. I'll know better for the future.

Jeff

 

Ask and ye shall receive
American Banknote Co.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/American-Banknote-Corporation-Company-History.html

http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n54a06.html

British American Banknote Co.
http://webhome.idirect.com/~mjp/articles/babn.html

http://www.lib.uwo.ca/programs/companyinformationcanada/ccc-british.htm

Anyone else thinkin of RickieB right now?

 

Thank you for these links! I've learned a great deal from reading them.

I think I'm on the right track by guessing that all the drawing but the one by Goranson are by Fanais. Here's a sketch of his I was able to find:

 

OMG that is so beautiful!

Isn't it funny I can machine a gun receiver to 1/10000 of an inch but can not draw a stick figure! Thank GOD for Autocad!!!
I can make the coin press, but not the coin LOL...

 

Hi,

I am very interested to know more about Fanais. This is a fascinating collection of work. if you have further information or examples of his work. My name is David [mail address removed for spam protection - please use PM/Conversation instead] Thanks.