- How come you don't have a section on collecting?
This site is not about collecting. We like to see where money
goes throughout the life of a note by tracking it online. However,
some of our members like to collect notes as well, and you can
contact them in the 'Collections' and 'For Sale' sections of the
message board.
- Why do people collect bank notes?
People collect for a variety of reasons. Some are interested in
the history of Canadian bank notes, numerical combinations
fascinate others, and others are looking for unique notes or
rare notes. There are almost as many reasons to collect, as
there are collectors.
- What makes a note collectable?
There are several types of collectable notes. Some are popular
because of a unique serial number, some because of their age,
and others because of errors made while printing. Some of the
questions below will help you understand the different types of
notes.
- What is a radar note?
A radar note or palindrome is where the serial numbers read the
same left to right, or right to left. [2558552]. Other
varieties of the radar is solid numbered [2222222], and
sequential [1234321].
- What is a million numbered note?
Million numbered notes have six zeros following any number
[1000000, 2000000, 3000000].
- What is an ascending or descending note?
These notes have serial numbers that decrease or increase
sequentially. [1234567, 9876543, 0987654]. Examples of a
combined ascending/descending serial numbers are [7654567,
1234321, 3456543].
- What are matching serial numbers?
This is where different denominations of notes have the same
serial number. You may have a ten and a twenty that have the
serial numbers: [AIT2587743 and GPR2587743].
- What is a consecutive numbered note?
Fairly common, where two or more notes are in sequential
order. [ex: GPA8045777, GPA8045778, GPA8045779, etc]. These
notes aren't too valuable but its up to you if you want to
collect them.
- What is a high/low note?
These notes are the lowest or highest notes found by someone in
circulation. Check the high/low pages at
http://www.cdnpapermoney.com/Lists/lists.htm.
- What do you mean by 'error note'?
The Bank of Canada prints a lot of notes and sometimes things
happen. A note can be cut wrong, or sometimes a crease during
printing will leave the note disfigured. Other printing errors,
like mismatched serial numbers, misplaced serial numbers or
blocked serial numbers can happen, and these notes are of
interest to some collectors.
- What is a replacement note?
The Bank of Canada sometimes produces notes specifically to
replace notes spoiled during the printing process. These notes
are sometimes called 'insert notes' because they are inserted
into a printing run whenever a spoiled sheet of notes is
discovered. Replacement of insert notes usually have an asterisk
preceding the prefix , or an "X" in the 3rd position of a three
letter prefix to indicate a replacement note.
- What's a 'Knight/Dodge' note?
The signatures on the face of the note help the collector
classify the note. Some signature combinations are rarer than
others, and these are of interest to some collectors.
- What's a series?
Generally the series of a note is the date on the face of the
note. The series is one of the main ways a note is classified.
- Does the condition of the note make a difference?
Yes, definitely. When shopping for notes, collectors almost
always value notes in perfect condition higher. The only
exception is when a note is involved with an event that damages
or marks the note in some way related to the event. (Sept 11, a
note with a bullet hole in it, etc.) Check out
the list of note conditions
in the help section.
- My friend has a note that has her phone number in the serial number. Is it valuable?
Probably only to him/her, but like any collecting, it's a matter
of what interests the collector.
- I've got a radar note for sale. What is it worth?
We don't appraise notes. For more information about collecting
and the value of collector notes, try
http://www.nunetcan.net.
They discuss collecting in detail. You can also ask some of our
members their opinion on the message board. Try 'Collections'
and 'For Sale'. You can also finds books that address this
question, such as "The Charleton Standard Catalogue of Canadian
Government Paper Money 4th Edition."
