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    Collage, photo of wild west street, old bank notes, old counterfeiting brochure.

    Security is in the bank note

    Security printing is a game of anticipating and responding to criminal threats. Counterfeiting is a game of anticipating and responding to bank note design. This cat and mouse relationship affects every aspect of a bank note.

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    Needs or wants? That is the question!

    Do you need it, or do you want it? That’s an important question to ask before buying anything. This activity is designed to teach kids how to prioritize their needs and wants, and how to make informed choices when shopping.

    Price check: Inflation in Canada

    All about inflation: what it is, what it means and how it's measured. Students will learn how the consumer price index is calculated and create their own student price index to measure the prices that matter most to them.

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New Acquisitions

By: Paul S. Berry


May 11, 2016

A U.S. half dollar counterstamped by Montréal merchant, L.C.Barbeau

Since money is handled daily by people across the country, it offers an opportunity to communicate directly with the public; not only messages of national importance, but also expressions of personal interest. On occasion, Canadians have used money as a signboard for political protest, a platform for social commentary and even as a handy notepad on which to record fleeting thoughts before they are lost. Authorities frown upon this practice because money so treated has to be replaced—leading to higher production costs.

Recently, the Collection acquired a rare example of one marked coin that speaks to the nature of currency in Montréal on the eve of Confederation. The coin is an American half-dollar of 1853—the highest denomination to bear the name of L.C. Barbeau and the only known example.

The 1853 U.S. half dollar counterstamped by L.C. Barbeau. Note that it’s bilingual.
(NCC 2015.23.2)

L. C. Barbeau was a dry goods merchant in Montréal. According to period directories, he operated a business on St. Paul Street from about 1852 to 1859, after which his name disappears from the city records. During this period, he advertised his business by having his name and profession impressed onto coins and tokens—a practice called counterstamping. The odd thing is that he advertised his services as a broker rather than as a dry goods merchant.

The different coins and tokens that bear Barbeau’s name testify to the diversity of money in circulation in Montréal during the 1850s. Known examples include English sixpence pieces of George III and William IV, a Bank of Montreal half-penny token from 1844, a U.S. hard times token from the late 1830s, Canadian 1 cent pieces from 1859 and two contemporary American silver coins: a quarter and half dollar. The latter two pieces indicate the prevalence of American money in circulation, a situation that was to assume monumental proportions by the late 1860s owing to American purchases in Canada during the Civil War.


Confectioner Findlay & McWilliam counterstamped this American 1 cent piece of 1846.
(NCC 1964.43.95)



Canada City Bank half-penny token of 1837 stamped by T. Costen, a Montréal gunsmith.
(NCC 1974.80.3)


Barbeau was not alone in counterstamping coins and tokens. Other 19th century Canadian businesses employed similar practices. Montréal firms known to have issued counterstamped pieces include Findlay & McWilliams (confectioners), T. Costen (gunsmith), Paquette & Cie (manufacturer), and Devins & Bolton (druggists). The most prolific producers of this sort of advertising, Devins & Bolton circulated large numbers of advertising pieces during the 1860s. More than 149 different types of coins and tokens bear their counterstamp.


One of the many Devins & Bolton counterstamped coins: a Norwegian 1 skilling from 1833.
(NCC 1966.160.124)



Notankers.ca is an organization raising awareness of the controversial transportation of crude oil through British Columbia and the Pacific.
(NCC 2009.7.1)


This sort of “guerrilla advertising” still exists today, often for promoting social change. The initiative to move crude oil to the Pacific coast in a pipeline has proven controversial. In 2009, citizens concerned about oil tankers and pipelines affixed black stickers to dollar coins creating the appearance of a loon covered in oil swimming on the surface of an oil slick.

Beginning in the late 1990s, private parties interested in the circulation of money created websites to track the movement of bills. Notes were overprinted with instructions to the note holder to go online and register where each note had been used.


You really can see where this bill has been at Canadian Money Tracker (if you could read the serial number).
(NCC 2004.118.1)



Although this note is most probably long out of circulation, interesting statistics may still exist for it on Canadian Money Tracker.
(NCC 2005.105.1)


There are very good reasons why you shouldn't deface or mutilate a bank note, even though it is not actually illegal. Defacement may interfere with the note's security features, reduce its lifespan or even make it unacceptable in a transaction. The Bank of Canada also feels that marking on or mutilating bank notes is simply an inappropriate act as they are a symbol of our country and source of pride.

We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s): Blog posts

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The Museum Blog

March 22, 2023

Security is in the bank note

By: Graham Iddon


Collage, photo of wild west street, old bank notes, old counterfeiting brochure.
Security printing is a game of anticipating and responding to criminal threats. Counterfeiting is a game of anticipating and responding to bank note design. This cat and mouse relationship affects every aspect of a bank note.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy, Financial literacy Grade level(s): Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
February 2, 2023

Teaching art with currency

By: Adam Young


From design to final product, bank notes and coins can be used to explore and teach art, media and process.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Arts, Education Grade level(s): Grade 05, Grade 06, Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
January 20, 2023

New Acquisitions—2022 Edition

By: David Bergeron, Krista Broeckx


It’s a new year—the perfect time to look back at some notable artifacts the Museum added to the National Currency collection from 2022. Each object has a unique story to tell about Canada’s monetary and economic history.
Content type(s): Blog posts
December 6, 2022

Money: it’s a question of trust

By: Graham Iddon


Photo collage, parking meter, old bank notes and an early bank card.
The dollars and cents we use wouldn’t be worth anything to anybody if we didn’t have confidence in it. No matter if it’s gold or digits on a hard drive, public trust is the secret ingredient in a successful currency.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy
November 14, 2022

The day Winnipeg was invaded

By: David Bergeron


People on the street were randomly stopped and searched, and some were even arrested and imprisoned in an internment camp. Even German marks replaced Canadian currency in circulation—in the form of If Day propaganda notes.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): History Grade level(s): Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
October 18, 2022

Positive notes

By: Krista Broeckx


The imagery on the Bank of Canada’s 1935 note series depicts the country’s rich industrial history.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): History
June 16, 2022

Army bills: Funding the War of 1812

By: David Bergeron, Graham Iddon


In 1812, British North America had no banks and little currency. With the prospect of war drying up supplies of coins, the government of Lower Canada decided to issue legal tender notes called “army bills” to pay for troops and supplies.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy, History
May 5, 2022

Between tradition and technology

By: Graham Iddon


Collage, man at an easel, paintings of birds and a goose illustration with comments written on it.
What was proposed was a complete about-face from the philosophy behind recent security printing. If photocopiers could easily deal with the colours and designs of the current series, then the next series should be bold and simple.
Content type(s): Blog posts

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