Little story about this bill... Back in 1986 got to visit my grandmother in Washington State, and we went to the World Exposition, that year held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I was excited to be in a foreign country for only the second time in my life. Did get some spending money, which of course was converted into Canadian dollars (to this day I love having foreign currency in my wallet to pay for things with when I can lol). Had a little bit extra left over at the end of the trip, including a Canadian $20 bill like the one above. I just wanted to keep it for my collection, but my grandmother convinced me it was too much money to not spend, and traded me US $20 for it. Always kind of wish I kept it, and well now I have one! The memory transfers over to this bill even if it isn't the specific bill I remember. I know it was definitely this design though (the newer 1980's designs weren't out yet when I was in Canada).
The reverse of that note is fantastic! In my opinion, Canada generally makes much more beautiful currency and coins than the U.S.
-That's a great story which brings back a memory for me too. Seven years earlier (in 1979), I got my first job at a carwash in a small town near Toronto, Ontario. This was the first time I had exposure to lots of cash & was hit hard with the "paper money bug." I actually found my first 1954 Twenty (& was hoping to get a Devil's Face $20 -which never materialized) from a customer. But I did find lots of "keepers." It was also when I first laid eyes on the newly introduced 1979 $20.00 (just like the one you posted). It happened while I was pumping gas (normally I manned the carwash kiosk but later at night, once I shut down the carwash, I relieved one of our "gas-jockies" so he could go get us our "break" snacks). Up until then, all TWENTIES, looked like this one (except most didn't have the asterisk- which makes this one a replacement/ nor the date stamp "OCT 1 1974"): But the 1979 design had moved the serial numbers to the back of the note! I remember staring at the first revised 79' TWENTY (like yours) after a customer handed it to me & my co-worker asking me when I was going to put it in the till! I scratched my head & wondered "why the heck had they changed such a nice looking $20 note?" (They also changed the $5.00 which I soon discovered). When I saw the change it motivated me to find a better 1969 TWENTY & a decent 1972 FIVE. The interesting thing about the replacement $20 I posted (& bought on eBay) is that the "1974" stamp was the last year I worked at that carwash/gas station! Five fun years of note hunting (which I had to keep secret)! Well many years later, I read an article which stated that they changed the designs of both denominations to allow vending machines to read the numbers (authenticate). The article also stated that the 1969 TWENTY (as I've posted) often got confused with the ONE DOLLAR note (mostly by seniors with poor vision) b/c the colours were so similar (green tones, I'm guessing) so the revised $20 got a splash of pink (& the rest of the colours muted). Below is one of the many $1.00 notes I found while working at that carwash station. Anyway, your 1979 note brought back these memories b/c that was when I had my first exposure to large quantities of cash (1979). Credit cards back then were a rarity (we had to use these thin carbon-paper receipts which often got jammed when we swiped/processed them). Man, I hated those brutal card-swipers! Does anyone remember those old steel card-swipers that were such a pain to use?
Random thoughts: I think I must have a later $20, because the serial is on the back rather than the front. It could have been printed any time between 1979 and 1986 (maybe the signatures can narrow it down more) but I do have a distinctive memory that the $20 I once had was of this design. At the time of Expo '86 none of the new notes (the bird series) were out yet, or at least I never saw any. I debated with myself if I should try to be more precise with dates in my banknotebank collection with currency, but I decided to just stick with the date on the currency (if it had one) rather than trying to figure out more precisely when the note would have been released, as that could get really complicated really quick (unless I have reason to know more precisely when it was actually released). Dates on currency do not necessarily correspond to when they were actually released or even when they were printed. This is especially true on US notes. The "Devil's face" thing always amused me from the time I heard of it, because: 1. I don't know why anyone would think someone would do that on purpose, on banknotes that would be seen by everyone in the country 2. While I can kind of see it, I wouldn't have ever noticed if I wasn't told to look for it I'm not sure if they changed it because they took the complaints seriously, or, as I strongly suspect lol, they were just tired of hearing them. I only have one note (a $2 bill) from the series that could have the "devil's face", and mine apparently doesn't. I'll probably eventually try to get at least one of them. The serial number thing seems odd, because I'm not sure why it was easier for machines to read the number off the back as opposed to the front. The "scenes of Canada" series (aka the multicolor series) was the last series to have a $1 bill before it was discontinued in favor of coins; the next series, the bird series, was the last to have a $2 bill before they were discontinued in favor of coins. I was looking up a history of the design changes just from the "Bank of Canada" period (1935 to the present). I honestly think we (the US) should change our designs more frequently. With currency I collect, kind of well anything I can get my hands on lol, but the mood for what I concentrate on changes from time to time. I don't rule out anything I don't yet have. Certainly wouldn't mind getting more Canadian notes I'm missing if the mood strikes me.
Dates are always a bit tricky to nail down but you were right (the date on the note is the date of issue) not when it was printed (or current). The 1979 series (pic you posted) would have been the current $20 note in 1986. (A person may have came across an old 1969 $20 but by 1986 that would have been quite unusual). What happened was that different signatures appeared over the lifetime of the series (+ # prefixes) & that was the only way collectors could determine its approximate date of release. The 79' FIVES & TWENTIES were actually quite unpopular amongst most collectors I knew b/c nobody could crack the code (of the 3 number prefix- your note is 521) until much later, when our Charlton Catalogue came out (revealed the system in black & white). The Birds $20 did not roll out until 1991 (& it went for 13 years before being replaced by the Journey $20). What I liked most about the Journey series ($10 introduced in 2001) was that it had the date (of printing) imprinted on the back (a first). But that's another story. -that's actually incorrect (had a brain fart) & impossible since I started in 1979! I started collecting in 1974 (& finished my 1st P/T job in 1984). -Yes & it was also the the first series I started to collect from circulation. My brother got a 1954 Devil Face $5 from our grandpa & that was what opened the "Pandora's Box" for me (my goal to get one for each denomination). However, I found it an exasperating chore b/c I wanted nice examples but they seemed far too expensive (considering millions were issued between 1954-1956) & only the odd Modified Twenty would be found circulating by the time I started searching in 1974 (& then in 79 during my P/T job). I kept putting off buying a nice example. Since I was cheap, I then bought soiled "Fine" to nicer "VF" examples & they're the only series I have yet to upgrade. Here's a good read about the Devil Face series.
It's kind of what I figured; a case of pareidolia, where someone saw a face where none was really intended. The photograph of the Queen the engraving was based off of (taken in 1951, when she was still Princess Elizabeth of York, and the heir presumptive) has the same "face" there if you look hard enough, so it was definitely entirely a coincidence. The notes were out for about 2 years before there's any published reference to anyone thinking it looked like there was a face in the Queen's hair. They did eventually modify the portrait by darkening the Queen's hair to remove the appearance of the supposed "devil's face" but they didn't recall the original notes, giving rise to a collectible variety among the series 1954 notes. At any rate an interesting and somewhat amusing story, that gave rise to the demand to collect the "devil's face" notes. It exists on all denominations ($1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $100, and $1000). In 1956 with no change of the series date, modified versions were made with the Queen's hair darkened to no longer have the "devil's face" apparent (usually called the "modified" version of the notes).
I was just a young boy with a paper route & eager to tuck away any low denominations I could afford (from 1974-1978). My brother had an impressive coin collection & loved to lord over me his silver (with past kings & queens I had never seen before). He got the coins from his paper route, my grandpa & parents found in their change. That's why I began tucking away the odd $1.00 or $2.00 banknote (1973 series, like I posted Tuesday) b/c by the time I took over his paper route (1974), all the silver was mostly long gone (1968 was when they were last minted). He showed no interest in the "new" notes I was saving and would bring out some old rarity our grandpa had given him. Then our grandpa gave him one of these Devil Face "beauties" that looked something like this: I did not notice the difference so he got a Modified $5 & we compared. I must admit I was shocked that I had been blind to the highlights (subtle differences). It also surprised me that the printers had gone to such trouble to remove them & the furor that this little perceived "face" had caused: it impressed me. (My Mum was big fan of the queen so she recalled the media coverage & the controversy that had surfaced, even though it had long passed). Once I bought my first Fine $20 (Devil's Face), I learned that Yousuf Karsh took the original photo of Princess Elizabeth (read a few articles about it). I always thought that the original 1954 (Devil's Face) notes look much more dramatic than the Modified versions (better colours/contrasts). I had no idea that Karsh had his first break by Prime Minister Mackenzie King until I re-read the Wikipedia link on Karsh today: I also learned that Karsh's famous "Roaring Lion" portrait of Winston Churchill ended up on the back of England's $5.00. Some pretty cool numismatic background info I had not known until today.
