Top
header Notes Collection

20 Dollars 2015, A Historic Reign, Canada

no number in katalog -
Years of issue: 09.09.2015
Edition: 10 000 000
Signatures: Deputy Governor: Mrs. C. A. Wilkins, Governor: Mr. Stephen Poloz
Serie: The Frontier Polymer Series
Specimen of: 09.09.2015
Material: Polymer
Size (mm): 152.4 х 69.85
Printer: Canadian Bank Note Company Limited, Ottawa

* All pictures marked magnify are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.

** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.

20 Dollars 2015, A Historic Reign

Description

Watermark:

watermark

The main security features of the new banknotes are two transparent windows: one - in the form of a maple leaf (national heraldic symbol of Canada), another - in the form of a broad vertical strip with two metalized images - reduced portrait of Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen’s monogram surmounted by the St. Edward's Crown (Image have a holographic shine and well visible from the front and back).

watermark watermark

The metallic portrait in the large window is based on a photograph of the Queen taken in July 1951 by renowned Canadian photographer Yusuf Karsh.

The Karsh photograph was originally commissioned for a Canadian postage stamp then modified for use by the Bank of Canada.

The same photograph was used to create the portrait engraving of the Queen for the 1954 Canadian Landscape series of bank notes—the first series issued after Her Majesty’s coronation.

While her tiara was not included in the portrait for that series, the Bank wanted to do something unique for the commemorative note. This marks the first time that Queen Elizabeth II is shown wearing any type of crown on a Canadian bank note.

As is the case with all depictions of the Queen for previous Canadian bank notes, the metallic portrait image used on the commemorative $20 note was approved by Her Majesty.

watermarkThe metallic symbols include the Queen’s monogram surmounted by the St. Edward's Crown. "E II" refers to Elizabeth II and "R" is for Regina, meaning "Queen". The garland of maple leaves was inspired by the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Emblem for Canada. The maple leaves in the emblem rising up in a wreath formation represent 13 Canada’s provinces and territories. These various symbols were adapted for use as holographic features.

Text that reads, "A HISTORIC REIGN • UN RÈGNE HISTORIQUE" is repeated across the top, center and bottom of the large window. This text sometimes appears in reverse to be legible from the other side of the note.

Avers:

20 Dollars 2015, A Historic Reign

watermark

Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II.

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada’s head of state, is an engraving by Jorge Peral, Vice-President, Design and Master Engraver with Canadian Bank Note Company Limited. It is based on a photograph taken by Ian Jones in 2009. Continuing with the Bank of Canada's informal images of Her Majesty, the image on the $20 dollar note issued in 2012 was commissioned by the Bank of Canada and provided in co-operation with Buckingham Palace. Wearing her traditional pearls (usually worn in informal images) and a plain dress, it is a refined yet matronly image of The Queen. Her Majesty is also depicted as an image in the security feature on the front and back of the note.

silver jubilee necklace

The Three Strand Pearl Necklaces.

Queen Elizabeth's standard daytime wardrobe includes pearls, of course; usually a triple strand necklace. She has at least three of these, according to Leslie Field in The Queen's Jewels:

1) A gift from her grandfather, King George V, to commemorate his Silver Jubilee in 1935.

2) One made from graduated family pearls which the Queen had created with a diamond clasp soon after she acceded the throne in 1952.

3) A gift for her coronation in 1953 from the Emir of Qatar, also with a diamond clasp.

And there are more as well. The differences between pearl necklaces are hard to track, especially when you can't see the clasp (and you normally can't when the Queen wears them). "From her Majesty's Jewel vault" (англ.).

Also on HM The Queen are Devonshire earrings.

Devonshire earrings

Purchased by the Ladies of Devonshire, headed by Lady Clinton, as a wedding present for Princess May of Teck (later Queen Mary) and made to match a pearl and diamond necklace presented by the "Ladies of England". The earrings were a wedding present from Queen Mary to Princess Elizabeth in 1947. (A Royal Wedding 1947)

Denominations in numerals are in lower left and top right corners.

Revers:

20 Dollars 2015, A Historic Reign

Memorial de Vimy

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is featured on the new $20 note as a tribute to Canada’s contributions and sacrifices in military conflicts throughout its history. Located on the site of the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France was erected in honour of Canadian service during the First World War.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge.

In April 1917, all four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together and successfully captured Vimy Ridge in France, after several failed attempts by other Allied forces. This victory is often described as Canada’s coming of age.

Located at the highest point of Vimy Ridge, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial bears the names of the 11,285 Canadian First World War servicemen with no known resting place in France. The memorial was erected on land that was granted permanently to Canada by France in 1922, in recognition of Canada’s war efforts. The following words are inscribed on the base of the monument: “To the valour of their countrymen in the Great War and in memory of their sixty thousand dead this monument is raised by the people of Canada”.

Designed by Canadian sculptor Walter Seymour Allward, the limestone monument features two pylons that stand 30 meters high. With a maple leaf carved in one and a Fleur-de-lis in the other, the pylons represent the sacrifices of people from Canada and France. There are twenty sculpted human figures on the monument. Among them is a group of allegorical figures known as "The Chorus." They represent the virtues of Peace, Justice, Hope, Charity, Faith, Honour, Truth and Knowledge. Reaching upward with a torch, Peace is the highest figure on the monument.

On the right and left sides are the poppies.

The presence of red poppies on the battlefields and graves throughout Europe during the First World War inspired today a symbol of remembrance. In mourning the death of a friend, a Canadian military doctor and artillery commander Major John Alexander McCray writes In Flanders Fields , now known poem, which represents the living presence of poppies in a landscape devastated by war.

Canadian flag is near the monument.

The Canadian flag’s presence here indicates that although the Vimy memorial is not in Canada, it is actually on Canadian soil, granted by the Government of France to the people of Canada, for all time. Vimy Ridge is a 14-kilometre long escarpment that overlooks the Douai plain of northern France, near the city of Arras. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is located on the highest point of the ridge.

Denominations in numerals are in top left and lower right corners.

Comments:

The commemorative $20 note was issued on 9 September 2015, the day on which Queen Elizabeth II’s reign exceeded that of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, making her the longest-reigning sovereign in Canada’s modern era.

The banknotes are manufactured by Ottawa-based companies Canadian Bank Note Company and BA International. They are made from a single sheet of polymer substrate branded as "Guardian" manufactured by Innovia Films, which is the only supplier of the substrate for the Frontier Series, based on a polymer developed in Australia and used by Note Printing Australia to print the banknotes of the Australian dollar since 1988. The material is less likely to tear than cotton-based paper, and is more crumple resistant and water resistant. The polymer notes are made of recyclable biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP).