CANADIAN PAPER MONEY ERROR
FREAKSHOW
If you're not too squeamish, have a look at this modest selection of numismatic oddballs... If P.T. Barnum was a paper money collector, he would be proud to call these his own. But unlike a circus sideshow, admission here is FREE J
1. Solid palindromic serial number notes occur once every one million notes. Mismatched serial number notes occur with about the same frequency (if you count only those which make it into circulation). Despite these staggering odds, you know that EVENTUALLY somewhere, some day, a note will turn up with both. The wait is over. What a shame, it would seem, that this error slipped through many hands before being spotted. The note below is only in VG or slightly better condition, and it even has a pair of staple holes. So if you think Bank of Canada employees and bank tellers pick out all the good stuff before it reaches circulation, you're wrong...
2. A mismatch serial number like the note above is actually a special case of the numbering device getting stuck or set improperly on a certain number. The device can also get stuck between numbers and produce a partial-digit error like you see below. This particular note is interesting because the digit in error is between 9 and 0, and like the Ace in a deck of cards, a zero can be either high or low (representing 0 or 10). The 1967 $1 note was a short-lived issue, so any error on this note type is far less common than on its 1954 counterpart.
3. Since serial numbers are applied in a separate process from the actual printing of paper notes, variation in the position of serial numbers is normal. Only when the serial numbers start creeping into other design elements do they take on a special significance. This note has the serial number out of position and aligned at a 90° angle to the rest of the design. What makes this error particularly spooky is the fact that the note was cut normally, meaning the original sheet had to be rotated 90° after printing and then rotated 90° in the opposite direction back to normal before being cut. Either this note was printed on a Monday or the Bank of Canada ran out of replacement note sheets.
4. If you think the preceding note was a hoot, you'll love this one. There's no way this error could have been an unintentional mistake...
5. The popularity of high-denomination notes with errors related to the Optical Security Device (OSD) went down the tubes when it was discovered that the OSD could be removed easily with household chemicals. The following freak note has an OSD and it's in the right place, sort of.
6. Most paper money collectors are familiar with the $2 test note issues of the 1954 and 1974 series of notes. Notes with the "RS" prefix often look darker, like the printers were experimenting with new dyes. Here's a note that is definitely not too dark... It looks like all that experimentation gave at least one employee amnesia and he forgot to add the red dye to the mix when this note was printed:
7. Stamp collectors know that errors are exceedingly rare, and a block of four stamps with one printed with an inverted design can fetch incredible sums of money at auction. Inverted designs on paper money are almost unheard of. In the earliest issues of 1937 bilingual notes, the King's portrait was added in a separate process. Some experts speculate that King George the Fifth was supposed to appear on the $1 note. With the King's passing early in 1936, new plans had to be drawn up quickly to accomodate the change in the monarchy and the replacement of the 1935 unilingual issues. Perhaps surprisingly, a new engraving of George the Sixth was chosen and added subsequently to the incomplete new notes. Most notes of that first issue were seamless and perfect, unlike the emergency issues of "dot" coins in 1936 which were very poorly struck. But for every rule there has to be at least one exception...
8. Much like serial numbers, the signatures of the Governor and the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada used to be applied in a separate printing process to notes up until the late 1960s. So all the same varieties of errors that occur for the serial numbers also occurred for signatures (i.e. misplaced on the front, misplaced on the back, inverted, etc). What I didn't know was whether the signatures were added before, after, or at the same time as the serial numbers. The following note provides the answer: after. This note is similar to the "Out of place (signatures) due to folding error" shown on page 311 of the Charlton catalogue (15th edition). The folded and subsequent miscut portion of the note overlaps both the serial numbers and the signature panel. The signature of J.R. Beattie was printed on the back of the note while that of L. Rasminsky is exactly as it should be.
9. Another numismatic mystery came to light recently concerning the "Devil's Face" notes of the 1954 issue. Highlights in the hair of the Queen's portrait give the appearance of a devlish grinning face. Some people believe it was an honest mistake created by the faithful rendering of the Queen's portrait into engraved form. Others say it is the intentional work of a prankster at the banknote company. The variety took some time to be corrected. Several efforts to change the highlights in the hair failed to erase the "Devil's Face". The "Modified Portrait" variety eventually eliminated this leering face. Not many collectors are aware that an intermediate variety was produced, and this variety has been dubbed the "Diabolical Murdurous Dictator Face". It's not hard to see how the variety derived its name...
|
OK, OK,...
By now you're probably thinking this gallery has taken a turn for the rediculous with those last two or three entries. There's no such thing as a "Diabolical Murdurous Dictator Face" note, and yes, that's a pretty cheesy composite of Saddam Hussein's face over the Queen's hair. You're right to be suspicious; I created that error with my own diabolical mind. But what you might not know is that all of the notes in this gallery are FAKE (except #5, the 1974 brown $2 note; see explanation below). They were made with simple graphics software from original scans of error-free notes. Anyone with a computer has the ability to manipulate images, and most people don't need to be artistically gifted to accomplish similar results to what you see above. With advanced graphics software, the sky is the limit to what can be created. If used for fraudulent purposes, this poses a very significant problem since internet-based commerce is increasing every year. The numismatic hobby is not immune to fraudulent criminal activity either. What I have done above is perhaps an extreme example of the lengths to which some people will go to make money off unsuspecting collectors. There are already many people online using internet auction (like eBay) to pedal faulty and misdescribed items. Advanced technology can help anyone become a fraud artist, but in fact cheap technology can suit the same means. With people buying digital cameras and flatbed scanners and never learning to use these innovations properly, a plethora of low-quality images of commercial goods is hitting the online auctions. An overexposed image of an EF note can look AU or Unc to hide the creases. Some con artists exploit consumer ignorance and purposely provide poor images to make their goods look better than they are. And when confronted, they plead their innocence, saying it was an honest mistake. Of course a dishonest person would never admit to making the mistake on purpose, the same as someone who is truly innocent would never do that. So what's the consumer to do?? Since it is technically illegal to hunt down fraud artists and inflict vigilante justice (i.e. shoot, shovel, and shut up), I suggest doing the following instead. Use common sense, of course. Never stop being suspicious; ask lots of questions; and if something seems too good to be true... You know the rest.
The Canadian Paper Money Error Freakshow is open to suggestions for improvements and new content. Have you seen an error note that was just too good to be true? Do you have a picture of it or a web address where it is posted, or even just a description? Send it to me and I may include it in the above gallery... at no extra charge! LOL. See my email link at the top of this page.
***Freakshow entry #5 is an actual note that has not been graphically manipulated. Neither is the note a true error. The brown colour is the result of fading due to exposure of the note to sunlight. Red dyes used for the 1974 $2 note were shown to be unstable. Some collectors actually put these notes in their windows to produce novelty items which they would sell for about $4 at numismatic conventions. Of course, every now and then a seller will try to pass this type of note as a true error. Gatewest sold me this nice non-error for a true error price, before I discovered my mistake. I used to like Gatewest too.
NOW HERE IS SOME REAL PAPER MONEY FOR SALE!...
|
