Coins1935 Canadian Banknotes, 1935 → 1935 $20 (English, Large Seal) Bank of Canada Note

1935 $20 (English, Large Seal) Bank of Canada Note

Semi-keyBank of Canada
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Why this coin matters

The $20 carries the most remarkable portrait in the series: Princess Elizabeth, aged eight, engraved from a 1934 Marcus Adams photograph - the future Queen Elizabeth II on a banknote seventeen years before her accession. The English printing split into two varieties, and this is the scarce one: 200,000 notes with the large seal of the Bank of Canada before the die changed, against 802,700 with the small seal.

The variety carries serious money in high grade. A Large Seal with serial A000008, certified CUNC-64, brought $63,840 CAD at the January 2020 FUN show, and a GUNC-66 example reached $49,300 CAD at Torex in 2019. The seal is the difference, so the seal is what to verify - and what a mislabeled listing quietly gets wrong.

From the editorial file

The child-Queen twenty is the series' best crossover note, pulling royal collectors who own nothing else Canadian. Between the two seals, buy the attribution, not the adjective: a certified holder that names Large Seal is worth more than a seller's opinion that the seal looks big.

Before you buy: the checklist

  • Seal size decides the price. Compare against certified examples of both varieties. The difference is visible once seen side by side.
  • French exists too. 202,500 French twenties were printed - nearly the Large Seal count, with the same portrait and its own premium.

Mintage: the 1935 bank of canada note, issue by issue

IssueMintMintage
1935 $1 (English, Series A) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa40,000,000
1935 $1 (English, Series B) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa20,312,000
1935 $1 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa15,196,000
1935 $10 (English) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa5,000,000
1935 $10 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa1,550,000
1935 $100 (English) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa87,500
1935 $100 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa17,500
1935 $1000 (English) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa66,000
1935 $1000 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa7,000
1935 $2 (English) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa22,340,000
1935 $2 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa5,300,000
1935 $20 (English, Large Seal) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa200,000
1935 $20 (English, Small Seal) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa802,700
1935 $20 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa202,500
1935 $25 (English) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa140,000
1935 $25 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa20,000
1935 $5 (English) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa6,140,000
1935 $5 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa3,000,000
1935 $50 (English) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa131,000
1935 $50 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa32,500
1935 $500 (English) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa20,900
1935 $500 (French) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa5,000

The 1935 in its series

Sources

Mintage figures: United States Mint (Annual Report of the Director of the Mint), Royal Canadian Mint records, and — for the 1935 banknote issue — Bank of Canada printage records as published in the Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money, cross-checked across independent published references. Specifications: United States Mint coin specifications.

The mintage is the only number that never changes. This is where it lives.