Dean’s finds

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

Jan 10 coin hunt update:

Boy, am I glad that I went back to get those rolls of coins.
There was a large amount of US coin, two proof nickels and a proof dime, two coins from the United Arab Emirates an overstuffed roll with 9 extra dimes in it and best of all, four silver dimes, 1965, 1967, and two 1968s!

Interestingly, two of the silver dimes and the proof coins came from the bank that paid out yesterday, which makes me think that this was a collection dump.  The other two silver coins came from the rolls I picked up from the Scotiabank next door…

So, you never know what coins are in the rolls at any bank.  There’s stuff out there if you are willing to look for it!

Enjoy!
Dean

Jan 12th finds:

Today after work, I stopped by one of my banks.
I managed to get $170 in rolled coins after finding out that they had no paper money or pennies.  The teller said that this was all he could give to me because it was just before closing time and most of the cash had been locked away. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find a few US coins, a coin from the Cayman Islands, a 12 sided nickel from 1962 (too bad it’s painted!) some nickel bullion coins, and best of all, two 1968 silver dimes!

Even though the ‘68s are only 50% silver, I will never complain when I find them for face value.

Enjoy!
Dean

Not to be outdone by Dean with his collection of US $2 banknotes, I was asked by my friendly Royal Bank branch if I was interested in buying these banknotes as they have been turned down by Canadians purchasing US currency for travel.  As a result, I rescued these banknotes.

It is interesting to note that these banknotes were issued in 1976 for the 200th anniversary of their Independence.  Somebody has been holding these notes for some time as the Federal Reserve does issue a lot of $2 banknotes since 1976 and the US Treasury Website for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has printed millions of new $2 banknotes in 2024 and 2025 under the series of 2017.  I suspect that these banknotes were under someone's mattress.

With this in mind, the second posted image, contains a $1 banknote issued under the 1963A series which supports my theory that this was a dump of banknotes.  I do remember the 1963 and 1963A series as a young lad growing in Toronto when silver coins were still issued by the Royal Canadian Mint.  Even though, the $1 banknote has seen better days, it is a souvenir for me to remind me of those days of being a paperboy for the Toronto Star in the 1960's when the Maple Leafs last won the Stanley Cup!!  Sound like a Tragically Hip lyric to me.

The story of the other US $1 banknote has been documented on another thread started by Dean.

Enjoy the pictures of old banknotes.

Whitenite

According to Friedberg, BEP printed 2.4 billion of those series 1976 $2 notes, which everyone (including me) hoarded at the time. And many continue to do so, believing they will someday become rare and valuable, which will never happen of course. By comparison, the 1995, 2003, and 2003A series were only printed in the hundreds of millions of notes each. That's why despite being 50 years old, those series 1976 $2 notes still outnumber all other green seal $2 notes combined. They're still fun to receive in the wild though!

Jan 14th finds:

I went to one of my banks today.  They had no paper bills, so I bought some coins.
Aside from a fair share of US coins, there wasn’t much in this lot. 
This is the reality of coin roll hunting; you can go for a long time without finding anything at all.

Enjoy!
Dean

During the Christmas season, I had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite Bank branches in the Ottawa Valley and it was definitely Christmas.  I could not believe what was deposited.  It goes to show you that anything is possible and being at the right place at the right time.

My advice to all, just ask the Bank staff for anything cool and more than likely, you could receive a payout.  The 1937 $2 banknote was a great stocking stuffer.  There were two lonely 1973 $1 banknotes as well.  I took them all.

Enjoy the picture!!  Whitenite.

Nice find!  I've never gotten beyond 1954 with notes from a bank.

Thanks Breanna72 for the compliment!

A week later after the find of 1937 $2 banknote, I went to the same bank branch between X-mas and New Years Eve and, it appears that Santa Claus was there.  I received the following banknotes which included 3 1954 banknotes where the $5 banknote with the A/S prefix was the start of the 2nd range for the $5 banknotes after first range of prefixes of A/C to Z/C (including the Devil's Face notes) was completed.  Based on the Charlton Catalogue, this $5 note was probably issued sometime in the calendar year of 1962 as the Rasminsky become Governor, Bank of Canada in 1961.  No doubt, this note was sitting around for quite some time.

More interesting, the 1954 $1 banknote with the prefix Z/Z was at the end of range of 2 letter prefixes for all banknotes being issued by the Bank of Canada.  I can recall back in 1970, that there was speculation that multicoloured $1 banknote would make its debut as the multicoloured $20 banknotes were starting to appear in great abundance in 1970.  The first of the multicoloured $20 banknotes started with the prefix EA which is consistent with the BoC practice.  However, the Bank of Canada fooled us by starting the prefix of A/F for the 1954 $1 notes and then A/I which is interesting as the standard practice of the Bank of Canada was to use a low alphabet letter for the start of a new series of banknotes.

For example, A for $1, B for $2, C for $5, D for $10, E for $20, H for $50, J for $100 and lastly K for the $1000 banknote as this was the standard for starting a new series of banknotes for the 1937. 1954 issues and for the multicoloured series.  The letters F, G and I were skipped and became dormant.  Does anyone know how the Bank of Canada decided this?

This type of sequencing continued but became slightly modified with the introduction of 3 letter prefixes during the multicoloured series.  Even with the polymer series, there is a continuation of this concept where for example, the second letter of the prefix for the $50 and $100 banknotes still use the letters H and J, respectively.

Lastly, I should mention that there were some Bird $2 and $5 banknotes for the taking.  I always find the Bird series to be the most attractive Bank of Canada banknotes ever issued.

Anyways, enjoy the pictures and please comment if you have any further insight into the sequencing of prefixes.

Best regards, Whitenite

Jan 17th:
Weekend coin hunt…

I picked up some rolled coins and was hoping to find silver.  The reality of this activity is that you will not find anything 99% of the time.

At one bank, the friendly teller gave me two US quarters for free because he said that they “can’t do anything with US coins”.

Out of all of these coin rolls, I managed to find some US coins and one 12 sided nickel.  There was also a coin from the East Caribbean Territories in the dime rolls, but that’s it.

Enjoy!
Dean

For example, A for $1, B for $2, C for $5, D for $10, E for $20, H for $50, J for $100 and lastly K for the $1000 banknote as this was the standard for starting a new series of banknotes for the 1937. 1954 issues and for the multicoloured series.  The letters F, G and I were skipped and became dormant.  Does anyone know how the Bank of Canada decided this?

This type of sequencing continued but became slightly modified with the introduction of 3 letter prefixes during the multicoloured series.  Even with the polymer series, there is a continuation of this concept where for example, the second letter of the prefix for the $50 and $100 banknotes still use the letters H and J, respectively.

Thanks whitenite for this! Very interesting!

I love the $5 Birds myself!

B
Cheers, B

On the last day of the year for 2025, I went to my favourite bank branch in the Ottawa Valley to see if anything came in.  Well, the friendly bank teller told me that there was a deposit in the morning consisting of a number of Journey $20 banknotes.  I took them all, as I am on the search for replacement notes all the time.  Unfortunately, no replacement notes were found but I did find one with a bank stamp which is documented in the other Forum thread for banknotes with a story.  It is always exciting to get paper instead of plastic, there is something about paper which makes money more real!!

Enjoy the pictures, Whitenite

Jan 22nd finds:
I bought $250 worth of dimes and quarters today.  There was no silver, but I did find a fair number of US coins, a German mark from 1978, a ten cent coin from Barbados and a few nice vintage Caribou quarters in nice condition dated 1971, 1990, 1987 and an arctic expedition quarter as well.

I don’t see many 1987 quarters out there…

I love pennies…especially US pennies, but not when I find one in a roll of dimes…😡

Hopefully, I’ll find silver again soon…

Enjoy!
Dean

Jan 23rd finds:
Finally…some paper money.

I went to one of my banks after work and the teller had a few paper notes for me to pick through.  There really wasn’t anything special…but it’s a shame that this journey $10 has roller marks from the bank machine. 

I bought some coins as well, and for the most part, they were a bust.
The most exciting finds from the coins were two twelve sided nickels, dated 1949 and 1962, but that’s it.

Enjoy!
Dean

Jan 24th finds:
Back on the silver!

I stopped by one of my favourite banks today and I asked for pennies of paper money.  The teller gave me $1.20 in pennies but had no paper money.

As usual, I bought some rolled coins but when she brought the dime rolls out, they were machine wrapped crimped rolls, but in brown paper.  I thought that they might be ARP rolls but I took them anyway

I was expecting nothing as I opened up the dimes but soon, I saw US coins and older nickel alloy dimes popping out.  Aside from one Australian 5 cent coin, there was a fair bit of US coins, some 1968 and 1969 dated dimes and best of all, two silver dimes dated 1965 and 1967!

The quarters were almost a bust had it not been for one nice 1992 Provincial quarter from Manitoba and a couple of 1969s.  The nickels gave up a 1940 US coin and a handful of nickel alloy Canadian nickels and US spenders.

If you search enough coins, you’re bound to find something eventually.

Enjoy!
Dean

Jan 26th:  snow day coin hunt.

I found a load of coins that I had bought and forgot about so I searched them.
Unfortunately, it was mainly a bust, but I did find three 12 sided nickels some US coins, a coin from Malaysia, and a 5 pence coin from the UK.

Enjoy!
Dean