Canadian Government Paper Money, 22nd Edition (Charlton Standard Catalogue)

The 22nd Edition of the Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money will be released July 16th, 2009.

The format of the book has been altered to provide a larger page size (similar to our companion volume, Canadian Coins). This allows the consolidation of information into fewer tables and means the end of abbreviated surnames for note signers. More information has been made available than ever before, including updated and additional note census data. New Journey note prefixes and replacement ranges have been added, and there are several new entries for error notes.

In order to make the catalogue as useful as possible it is essential to track the market whichever way it goes. The current economic crisis has prompted a heavy volume of sales of mainly modern notes to dealers, resulting in oversupply and therefore lower valuations for some material. It can be hoped that as economic conditions ease, lower prices will attract new collectors and bring back others who may have become discouraged.

Early notes, as well as all kinds of provincial and municipal issues, have largely tended to move forward, with very few downward corrections. Early Dominion notes (before 1897) have generally increased in price, or remained steady, while later issues are typically softer in lower grades even while increasing in upper grades, with some exceptions.

Among Bank of Canada notes, the 1935 English issue is uncharacteristically quiet, but the French notes are tending upward at least in high grades, and the rare French $1,000s are up solidly in all grades. The 1937 and 1954 devil s face notes are mainly steady with some moderate changes in either direction. The 1954 modified portrait replacement notes, many of which have returned exceptional gains before peaking last year, have now had some fairly spotty downward revisions, even as some changeover prefixes have shown modest gains. Many 1967 $1 notes have had minor downward adjustments.

Hardest hit are the multicoloured and birds series, of which many notes are in steep decline. Others are holding their ground and a select few have even increased in value. Prices are easing for many Journey notes but not many have tumbled dramatically. Others are holding well and, again, selected issues show increases.

The market for special number and error notes remains rather strong, with a lot of increases and relatively few decreases.

Overall, Canadian government paper money has so far outperformed most other classes of assets in the present economic climate.