Canada — Issue of 1954

The Canadian Landscape series appeared on 9 September 1954: every denomination, from 1 to 1,000 dollars, carries a portrait of Elizabeth II based on a photograph by Yousuf Karsh, and the backs show landscapes of the country, from the Saskatchewan prairie and a Yukon waterfall to Okanagan Lake and the mountains of British Columbia.

The first notes became famous for the “devil’s face”: a grinning little face could be made out in the curls behind the queen’s ear. In 1956 the plates were reworked and the hair darkened, so every denomination comes in “devil’s face” and “modified” varieties. The series was printed for more than twenty years and went through six pairs of signatures, from Coyne and Towers to Thiessen and Crow.