Withdrawn Canadian banknotes

Banknotes that are no longer in issue in Canada, and are being actively removed from circulation, are said to be withdrawn from circulation.

The Bank of Canada, Canada's sole issuer of bank notes, currently issues five different denominations ($5, $10, $20, $50 and $100). Smaller denominations have been replaced by coins, and larger ones are felt to be no longer required in an era of electronic transmission of most large transactions. Despite competition from some more valuable foreign notes (most notably, the 500 euro banknote), there are no plans to re-issue Canadian banknotes larger than $100.

Notes issued by these former issuing authorities are considered to be withdrawn from circulation:

All Bank of Canada notes issued prior to the current Frontier Series are being actively withdrawn from circulation. The following Bank of Canada denominations included in previous series have been permanently retired:

The $25 note was issued only in 1935, to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V. As with other 1935 issues, separate English and French versions were printed. This was a limited release that was never printed in large quantities. The note was coloured an appropriate royal purple; both the King & his consort Queen Mary were featured, with Windsor Castle appearing on the back. The $25 note was withdrawn from circulation in 1937.

The $500 denomination was included only in the 1935 series. No note of this denomination has been printed since. The note was coloured sepia, or burnt sienna; the face featured Sir John A. Macdonald, and the back depicted a fertility allegory. The $500 note was withdrawn from circulation in 1938.

There had been two previous printings of the $500 note by the Dominion of Canada, one in 1925 featuring King George V, and one in 1911 picturing Queen Mary. Of the latter, only three are known to still exist, one of which sold for US$322,000 in a Heritage auction in October 2008. It is unlikely that further 1911 notes survived the Depression.

Printing of the $1 note ceased in 1989 after the release of the loonie (in 1987) had been implemented. These notes are virtually never seen in circulation today. The most recent banknote series that included the $1 note was the Scenes of Canada, with the $1 note released in 1974, coloured green and black. The face featured a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II; the back featured an image of Parliament Hill from across the Ottawa River, with log driving activities taking place on the water.

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