1937 Series (banknotes)

The 1937 Series was the second series of banknotes the Bank of Canada issued.

The creation of a second series of bank notes, only two years after the first issue, was prompted by changes in Canadian government legislation requiring the Bank of Canada to produce bilingual bank notes. Another contributing factor was the death of King George V on 20 January 1936 and the subsequent abdication of Edward VIII.

The 1937 series of bank notes saw the portrait of King George VI replace those of other members of the royal family on all denominations except the $100 and $1,000 bank notes, which pictured former Canadian prime ministers. Other departures from the 1935 series included colour variations and the location of the portrait in the centre of the bank note bordered by English and French text. These were the first Canadian banknotes that were bilingual.[1] 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).

All bills measure 152.4 × 73.025 mm (6.0 × 2.875 inches).

1937 Series
Image Value Main Colour Description Date of
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse printing issue
[1] [2] $1 Green King George VI Agriculture allegory 2 January 1937 19 July 1937
[3] [4] $2 Terra cotta King George VI Harvest allegory 2 January 1937 19 July 1937
[5] [6] $5 Blue King George VI Electric power allegory 2 January 1937 19 July 1937
[7] [8] $10 Purple King George VI Transportation allegory 2 January 1937 19 July 1937
[9] [10] $20 Olive Green King George VI Fertility allegory 2 January 1937 19 July 1937
[11] [12] $50 Orange King George VI Modern Inventions allegory 2 January 1937 19 July 1937
[13] [14] $100 Brown Sir John A. Macdonald Commerce and industry allegory 2 January 1937 19 July 1937
[15] [16] $1000 Rose Pink Sir Wilfrid Laurier Security allegory 2 January 1937 19 July 1937
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

References

  1. ^ The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money, Tenth Edition, p.193, edited by W.K. Cross, The Charlton Press, Toronto, ON, 1997, ISBN 0-88968-190-2
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