Scenes of Canada

Scenes of Canada was the fourth series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar issued by the Bank of Canada. It was first circulated in 1970 to succeed the 1954 Series, and was replaced by the Birds of Canada series beginning in 1986.

The design process for this series began in 1963 with a primary goal of creating banknotes that were more counterfeit-resistant than the 1954 Series it was to replace. The Bank of Canada requested design submissions from security printing companies, receiving several from both domestic and foreign companies. One proposed design was received from Organisation Giori, a Swiss security printer based in Lausanne that had developed a multicolour printing press "that raised the bar on banknote security". Its designs for the $10 and $20 banknotes were a "significant departure" from traditional Canadian banknote designs by incorporating more colours, new graphic elements, and different security features, but the design was rejected. Final conceptual designs were created by Canadian Bank Note Company, British American Bank Note Company, and De La Rue, the latter being the first foreign firm involved in the design of Canadian banknotes. The design by De La Rue was selected by the Bank of Canada in 1964 as the basis for the new series.

Each denomination retained the dominant colour of the respective banknote from the 1954 Series: green for the $1 banknote, orange (terracotta) for the $2 banknote, blue for the $5 banknote, mauve (purple) for the $10 banknote, burnt orange (red) for the $50 banknote, and brown for the $100 banknote. Because of the multicoloured tints used to complement the design for each banknote, Bank of Canada staff began referring to the series as the "multicoloured series".

The portraits on the obverse of each denomination were larger than for the same denomination in the 1954 Series. Initially, all denominations were to feature the portrait of Elizabeth II, but portraits of former prime ministers were used for some denominations at the request of Edgar Benson, the Minister of Finance in 1968, to "reflect Canada's burgeoning national identity". The vertical borders of the obverse were curvilinear, the left edge of which had "multicoloured diamonds" bordering a circular frame within which was the Coat of Arms. It also featured "sweeping guilloché" patterns.

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