Coins1937 Canadian Banknotes, 1937 → 1937 $1000 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada Note

1937 $1000 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada Note

Key dateBank of Canada
Affiliate links. For key dates, buy certified.

Why this coin matters

The $1,000 is the strange one. It was issued several years after the rest of the 1937 series, took on the rose tint of the 1935 $20, kept Wilfrid Laurier and the security allegory from the 1935 issue, and exists in exactly one signature combination: Osborne-Towers, the pairing that ended in 1938. The printage stopped at 15,000 notes, the smallest figure in the entire series, on a denomination that moved between banks rather than between people.

That makes it the 1937 key by an enormous margin and one of the serious rarities of Canadian paper money generally. Certified examples trade in five figures in any collectible state, and the market for it is a market of provenances - most survivors are known notes with auction histories.

From the editorial file

A thousand-dollar note that outlived its own signature pair. At this level the usual advice compresses to one word: certified, and ideally with a paper trail. A fresh discovery with no history deserves the scrutiny any six-figure claim earns.

Before you buy: the checklist

  • PMG or BCS, no exceptions. The value concentrates in a single signature variety, and paper doctoring chases exactly this kind of money.
  • Provenance is the second grade. Most genuine examples have auction records. Ask for the history and expect one.

Mintage: the 1937 bank of canada note, issue by issue

IssueMintMintage
1937 $1 (Coyne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa249,568,000
1937 $1 (Gordon-Towers, Narrow Panel) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa10,000,000
1937 $1 (Gordon-Towers, Wide Panel) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa460,000,000
1937 $1 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa50,000,000
1937 $10 (Coyne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa90,000,000
1937 $10 (Gordon-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa180,000,000
1937 $10 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa6,400,000
1937 $100 (Coyne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa900,000
1937 $100 (Gordon-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa4,170,000
1937 $100 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa70,000
1937 $1000 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa15,000
1937 $2 (Coyne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa80,000,000
1937 $2 (Gordon-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa170,000,000
1937 $2 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa20,000,000
1937 $20 (Coyne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa20,000,000
1937 $20 (Gordon-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa40,000,000
1937 $20 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa1,622,000
1937 $5 (Coyne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa70,000,000
1937 $5 (Gordon-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa160,000,000
1937 $5 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa8,824,500
1937 $50 (Coyne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa1,100,000
1937 $50 (Gordon-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa4,200,000
1937 $50 (Osborne-Towers) Bank of Canada NoteOttawa100,000

The 1937 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.