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 (ABN). 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 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.
Crescent Beach at Lockeport, Nova Scotia is the landscape on the back of this note. Lockeport is located on a tiny peninsula jutting into the Atlantic from the southeastern shores of Nova Scotia. It is separated from the mainland by a narrow neck of land that is Crescent Beach. The original engraving by Warrell Hauck of ABN was too pale to reproduce well in orange and was later darkened by Silas Allen of CBN. This was the last orange note issued by the Bank; all future 50-dollar notes would be red.
At a glance
- Portrait: Queen Elizabeth II
- Date of issue: September 9, 1954 (modified: June 1956)
- Last day issued: March 30, 1975
- Signatures:
- Deputy Governors James E. Coyne, John R. Beattie and Ruston W. Lawson
- Governors Graham F. Towers, James E. Coyne, Louis Rasminsky and Gerald K. Bouey
- Dimensions: 15.2 cm x 7 cm
- Design: Charles F. Comfort, Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd.
- Printer: Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd.
- Status: legal tender
