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20 Dollars 1954, Canada

in Krause book Number: 80а
Years of issue: 09.09.1954 - 1961
Edition: 275 000 000
Signatures: Deputy Governor: Mr. J.R. Beattie, Governor: Mr. James E. Coyne
Serie: 1954 Issue
Specimen of: 09.09.1954
Material: 50% high grade flax, 50% cotton
Size (mm): 152.4 х 69.85
Printer: Canadian Bank Note Company Limited, Ottawa

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

20 Dollars 1954

Description

Watermark:

Avers:

20 Dollars 1954

Queen

HM The Queen Elizabeth II.

This portrait of Queen Elizabeth is based on a photograph by Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh. The photograph was one of many taken during a photographic session in 1951 in Clarence House, a year before Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne.

It was made for Princess Elizabeth's Tour of Canada and the United States.

Many of the portraits from the photographic session show The Queen wearing a tiara, but the particular photograph chosen by the Bank of Canada for its 1954 issue is one without the tiara. Retouched by Brigdens of Toronto, to remove the tiara, circa 1953.

The tiara was removed to distinguish the portrait from another, based on the same photo, which had recently been featured on a Canadian stamp.

Princess Elizabeth is wearing a Norman Hartnell gown. The necklace worn by The Queen in this portrait, of diamond flowers and leaves, was a wedding present from Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar and Queen Mary's Floret Earrings.

The image on the banknotes, which is based on Karsh's photograph, was engraved by George Gundersen of the British American Bank Note Company. This portrait is famous for its two varieties.

1)The first variety of this engraving incorporates a 'devil's head' in The Queen's hair.

2)The second variety of the engraving is modified to remove the offending pattern in Her Majesty's hair.

coat canadaThe Canadian coat of arms is on background.

The Arms of Canada, also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada or formally as the Arms of Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Canada is, since 1921, the official coat of arms of the Canadian monarch and thus also of Canada. It is closely modeled after the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British.

The maple leaves in the shield, blazoned "proper", were originally drawn vert (green) but were redrawn gules (red) in 1957 and a circlet of the Order of Canada was added to the arms for limited use in 1987. The shield design forms the monarch's royal standard and is also found on the Canadian Red Ensign. The Flag of the Governor General of Canada, which formerly used the shield over the Union Flag, now uses the crest of the arms on a blue field.

Denominations in numerals are centered and in top corners. In words in lower corners and centered (also on the right and left sides).

Revers:

20 Dollars 1954

The reverse of the $20 banknote was engraved by Joseph Louis Black of "American Bank Note Company", and William Ford engraved the scene of the Laurentians, based on a photograph from the Provincial Publicity Bureau of Quebec.

Winter landscape in the Laurentian Highlands in the province of Quebec.

The Laurentian Upland (or Laurentian Highlands) is a physiographic province which, when referred to as the "Laurentian Region" is recognized by Natural Resources Canada as one of five provinces of the larger Canadian Shield physiographic division. The United States Geological Survey recognizes the Laurentian Upland as the larger general upland area of the Canadian Shield.

The Laurentian Region, as recognized by Natural Resources Canada, is part of the plateau and dissected southern rim of the Canadian Shield in the province of Québec. It is a western extension of the Laurentian Mountains, and continues across the Ottawa Valley into Ontario as the Opeongo Hills. Viewed from the valleys of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers, the south-facing escarpments of the Shield give the appearance of mountains 500-800 meters high; looking across the plateau, the relief is more moderate and subdued. These scarps mark the dramatic southern edge of this Upland region, of which Mont Raoul Blanchard is the highest peak at roughly 1,166 meters (3,825 ft).

Although the other limits are less well defined, this Laurentian Region in Quebec may be considered to extend 100-200 km. northward from the scarps and to stretch from the Gatineau River in the west (mean elevation 400 m.) some 550 km to the Saguenay River in the northeast. Here it attains its maximum elevation north of Quebec City in the Réserve faunique des Laurentides (over 1000 m.). Individual summits rise above the plateau surface: Mont Sir Wilfrid (783 m.) and Mont Tremblant in the west, Mont Sainte-Anne (815 m) at Quebec, Mont Raoul Blanchard (1166 m.), Mont Bleu (1052 m.) and Mont des Conscrits (1006 m.) in Réserve faunique des Laurentides. Cap Tourmente (579 m.) and Mont des Éboulements (770 m.) are dramatic examples of the scarp face as it drops precipitously to the St Lawrence River.

Denominations in numerals are in all corners, in words on the right and left sides and at the top.

Comments:

Banknotes Series 1954.