Explore a fascinating exhibit of proposed bank note designs from 1935 to 1999.
When the Bank of Canada creates a new bank note, many designs are proposed—and many rejected. But none are failures. Each contributes to the collage of ideas, images, colours and composition that becomes a new bank note.
Visit the Museum and see more than 25 bank note designs that offer us glimpses into the creative process, the designers’ art and the identity of a nation. You’ll even be able to try your hand at designing your own bank note.
A few proposed designs on view
This was one of the most colourful bank note models submitted to a 1963 Bank of Canada design competition. Though the final note series was known for its multiple colours, this submission was possibly too expensive and time consuming to print.
Source: 10 dollars, face model, British American Bank note Company, Canada, 1964 | NCC 2013.19.58
Occasionally, Samuel de Champlain has been proposed to appear on a Bank of Canada note. He may be a towering figure in Canadian history, but nobody knows what he looked like.
Source: 5 dollars, face model, Canadian Bank Note Company, 1963–1965 | NCC 2009.14.109
Vertical bank note designs were submitted to the Bank of Canada as far back as 1999. Their composition allowed for more space to highlight the central images, Canadian wild animals in their habitats.
Source: 5 dollars, face model, Canadian Bank Note Company, 1998 | NCC 2012.63.15
Related blogs
The objects in this display were an influence on the final designs of many of our bank notes. To explore further, browse this selection of blogs revealing the fascinating stories behind some of our most memorable notes.
One dollar: Scenes of Canada series (1969–1979)
Thousands of logs make a break for freedom in the nation’s capital. It was a bad day for a tugboat captain but a good day for Canadian iconography. Read more about this image on the back of our last $1 bill in the blog post Mishap on the dollar.
Ten dollars: Scenes of Canada series (1969–1979)
An industry at full throttle. The demands of total war. Find out why there was a petrochemical plant on the back of our 1971 $10 bill—the last time an industrial image appeared on our money. Read more about this image in the blog post The Last Smokestack.
Twenty dollars: Scenes of Canada series (1969–1979)
A sprawling saga of modern design, conflicting themes, contrasting ideas and mountains that don’t look quite right. Read more about this image in the blog post Moving mountains.
Fifty dollars: Scenes of Canada series (1969–1979)
Three images, three colours and three printing processes! It’s a brief history of a bank note whose development story could fill a book—the “RCMP” $50 bill. Read more about this image in the blog post The reluctant bank note.
Two dollars: Scenes of Canada series (1969–1979)
In the early 1970s, for the first time, real people appeared in a scene on a Canadian bank note—Inuk hunter Joseph Idlout and his relatives—the 1974 $2. Read more about this image in the blog post The story behind the engraving.
The first Bank of Canada note series (1935)
National identity and one of the last gasps of classical allegory. The Bank of Canada’s first note series deconstructed. Read more about this series in the blog post Positive notes.
Five dollars: Scenes of Canada series (1969–1979)
A tiny ship, a dedicated fisher, a bank note and the photographer who tied them all together. Read more about this image in the blog post The fisher, the photographer and the five.
The Birds of Canada series (1986)
A great nature artist interpreted by a great engraver. Low tech giving way to high-tech. Pretty birds. Read more about this series in the blog post Between tradition and technology.
The Landscapes of Canada series (1954)
He was a hard-hitting war artist and a painter of enormous murals. Then he sat down and designed one of our most beautiful bank note series. He was Charles F. Comfort. Read more about this series in the blog post The 1954 series: the artwork of Charles F. Comfort.
The Canadian Journey series (2002–2004)
Our current $10 bill wasn’t the first vertical note proposed in Canada. More than 25 years ago, this gorgeous set of note models was produced by engraver Jorge Peral. Read more about these designs in the blog post The vertical note that almost was.
One hundred dollars: Scenes of Canada series (1969-1979)
Millions of Scenes of Canada $100 bills are still in circulation, but few of us ever see one. Which is a pity, because it is an example of great bank note design with even greater imagery by a master engraver. Read more about this image in the blog post The Scenes of Canada series $100 bill.
