Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Dollars
| Issuer | Bank of Canada / Banque du Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1954 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | 1979 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Blue-black intaglio print on a pale underprint with fine guilloche work. At centre, the denomination numeral '5' appears within an ornate guilloche vignette flanked by bilingual inscriptions 'FIVE DOLLARS' and 'CINQ DOLLARS'; the issuer name 'BANK OF CANADA — BANQUE DU CANADA' is rendered in letterpress across a dark panel below centre. A right-facing portrait vignette of Queen Elizabeth II in formal attire occupies the right portion of the note, with a serial number printed in red appearing twice across the upper field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in blue-green intaglio, the reverse is dominated by a large scenic vignette of a rushing Canadian river landscape framed by dense coniferous forest and a distant mountain range, executed in fine engraved linework. The denomination '5' appears in each corner, with 'FIVE DOLLARS' and 'CINQ DOLLARS' at the top and the issuer legend 'BANK OF CANADA — BANQUE DU CANADA' in a panel at the foot of the note. Latent numeral panels and guilloche borders frame the central vignette on all sides. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The 1954 series is best known for the so-called "Devil's Face" controversy: in the original printing, highlights in the Queen's hair behind her ear were read by the public as a demonic profile. The Bank of Canada dismissed the claim initially, but public pressure was sufficient that the hair engraving was quietly modified in 1956, creating the two distinct varieties collectors now distinguish as Devil's Face and Modified. The modified notes are far more common; unmodified examples carry a premium across all denominations in the series.
Three signature combinations span the note's long production run, reflecting successive Governor appointments — Coyne, then Rasminsky, then the Bouey/Lawson pairing from the 1970s.