About the note
Canadian artist Charles F. Comfort created the initial design approach of this bank note series, and the Canadian Bank Note Company (CBN) produced the final design with assistance from the American Bank Note Company. The face of every note carries a portrait of the young Queen Elizabeth II engraved by George Gundersen of the British American Bank Note Company (BABN) after a photograph by Yousuf Karsh. However, some people saw a shape in the curls behind the Queen’s ear that resembled the face of the Devil. CBN engraver Yves Baril modified the engraving, and from 1956 onward, no more “Devil’s Head” bank notes were issued.
The landscape on the back of the note, engraved by C. Gordon Yorke of BABN, is in the southern Yukon. Otter Falls is on the Aishihik River near mile 996 of the Alaska Highway. The local Southern Tutchone people call the falls Nadèlin. Despite the dam upriver, it is still quite a wild area with a thriving population of wood bison, reintroduced in 1988.
At a glance
- Portrait: Queen Elizabeth II
- Date of issue: September 9, 1954 (modified: June 1956)
- Last day of issue: December 3, 1972
- Signatures:
- Deputy Governors James E. Coyne, John R. Beattie and Gerald K. Bouey
- Governors Graham F. Towers, James E. Coyne and Louis Rasminsky
- Dimensions: 15.2 cm x 7 cm
- Design: Charles F. Comfort, British American Bank Note Company Ltd., Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd.
- Printer: British American Bank Note Company Ltd., Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd.
- Status: legal tender
