CAD · Canada
Canadian banknotes have been printed on polymer since 2011, and the polymer series covers the $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. The $10 issued in 2018 is unusual in being vertical rather than horizontal. Earlier paper notes of these values remain legal tender but are being withdrawn from circulation, and many Canadian retailers no longer accept them, so it is worth making sure the notes you carry are polymer.
Features published by the Bank of Canada.
The note is a single sheet of smooth polymer with no fibres and no seams. It has a distinctive slick feel and is difficult to tear once intact.
How to check: Feel the surface for that smooth, uniform texture, and check that there is no join anywhere across the note. The polymer is a single piece, so any seam is a fabrication.
A large clear window occupies a significant part of the note. Within it are a metallic portrait repeating the main portrait on the note and a metallic image of a building, both of which change colour as the note is tilted.
How to check: Look through the window to confirm it is genuinely transparent, then tilt the note and watch the colours of the metallic portrait and building shift. Compare the small metallic portrait with the large printed one; they must match.
A smaller frosted area contains a transparent maple leaf outline, so that the leaf itself is clear against the frosted surround.
How to check: Hold the note to the light and look at the maple leaf, the outline should be a clear window through the note, not a printed shape.
The denomination is concealed within the frosted maple leaf and becomes visible only under a single, focused light source.
How to check: Hold the note up so that a single point of light, such as a bare bulb or a phone torch, shines through the maple leaf. The number should appear inside the leaf.
Sharp transparent text within the large window gives the denomination and the words Bank of Canada and Banque du Canada.
How to check: Hold the note to the light and read the text through the window. It should be crisp and complete; on a copy it is usually thick, uneven or missing.
Several elements are printed in raised ink: the shoulders of the portrait, the large denomination numeral, and the words Bank of Canada and Banque du Canada.
How to check: Run a fingernail across the shoulders of the portrait and the large numeral. You should feel a distinct ridge on each.
Under ultraviolet light, elements of the note including maple leaves and the denomination fluoresce in colour, while the polymer itself stays dull.
How to check: A counter check under a UV lamp. A note that glows uniformly bright under UV is on the wrong substrate.
What changes from one note to the next, once you have run the general checks above.
The polymer $5 is blue and carries a portrait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, with the Canadarm2 and Dextre on the back.
In the large window, the small metallic portrait must match Laurier and the metallic building is the Parliament Buildings. Tilt to confirm both change colour.
Shine a single point of light through the frosted maple leaf to reveal a hidden 5.
The current $10, issued in 2018, is vertical rather than horizontal and carries a portrait of Viola Desmond, with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on the back. It is purple.
Because the note is vertical, the window and its elements run in a different arrangement from the other denominations. This is the design and not a sign of tampering.
The horizontal polymer $10 from the earlier Frontier series, which carries a portrait of Sir John A. Macdonald and a train on the back, also remains legal tender.
Shine a single point of light through the frosted maple leaf to reveal a hidden 10.
The polymer $20 is green and carries a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, with the Canadian National Vimy Memorial on the back.
In the large window, the small metallic portrait must match the Queen and the metallic building is the Parliament Buildings. Tilt to check both shift colour.
Shine a single point of light through the frosted maple leaf to reveal a hidden 20. The $20 is the note Canadian ATMs dispense most, so it is the one to know best.
The polymer $50 is red and carries a portrait of William Lyon Mackenzie King, with the research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen on the back.
Check that the metallic portrait in the window matches Mackenzie King, and reveal a hidden 50 in the frosted maple leaf under a single light source.
The polymer $100 is brown and carries a portrait of Sir Robert Borden, with medical research imagery on the back.
Check that the metallic portrait in the window matches Borden, tilt to confirm the colour shift on the portrait and building, and reveal a hidden 100 in the frosted maple leaf.
As the highest circulating denomination it is the one most worth running every check on, including the raised ink on the shoulders and the transparent text in the window.
Source: Bank of Canada, bank note security features
Every note is checked at the counter. Call or WhatsApp your nearest Mythri Forex branch.
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