I have a Canadian $1 bill. On the front it says 1954 Ottawa. Is it worth anything?
Thanks.
$1?
$0.99
Unscientific answer from a Canadian: Unless it’s in particularly amazing condition, $1. When we switched to loonies (dollar coins), everybody and their uncle saved the bills. Dollar bills are no longer in circulation, but they’re nowhere near rare.
(Also, bonus answer: As a retail clerk in the '90s in Montreal, I occasionally met non-Canadians who paid me in crisp bills from 1967 or 1976. I leave the reason as an exercise for the reader 
)
Just what I thought. Thanks.
I once looked through some of my parents things, and found Mexican bills that had inflated to nothing.
It’s at least reasonably common to come across US bills from the 1970’s circulating in the US today. The $1 looks almost same as it did back then, so the old bills probably are unnoticed for the most part. The small portrait versions of the higher bills still are found occasionally and retail types take them and hand them out without comment. Silver coinage is rather rare (only personally saw 1 silver coin in circulation in the past ten years), but you’ll occasionally see pennies from the Roaring 20’s. Source: personal experience. Last year, I remember seeing a $20 from 1981, two pennies from the 1920’s, and a nickel from the 1940’s. Take a look at your money some time!
Too little information. If it’s a devil’s head bill, it might be worth quite a lot to a collector. Remember that if it’s the 1954 series, it wasn’t necessarily printed in 1954–those notes were printed over a period of 15 years, until 1969, when Canadian currency was redesigned. Many Canadians have a few tucked away somewhere, as was mentioned upthread. So it may not be as valuable as you might think.
One dollar bills may no longer be printed in Canada, but existing ones are still worth their face value. So at the very least, it is worth one Canadian dollar.
Weren’t those Expo years? Perhaps the 'Merkins had saved them thinking they’d be worth something more at a later date?
Close. 1967 was the Expo year, 1976 was the Olympics year,
A price guide for 1954 series bills. No idea how accurate it is, but depending on which exact printing it is it could be worth somewhat more than $1, assuming very good condition.
For the 76 bills, they probably were left over from tourists who were at the Olympic Games. (I recall from when I visited in 1981 that you could buy things with US bills, and the clerks would convert the exchange rate and give you back change in Canadian bills. Just before I crossed back to the US, I bought a Quarter Pounder in Canada with a $20 USD and got $21 CD back. After we crossed and stopped at a Montana convenience store within view of the border crossing, I presented some of my Canadian bills for payment. “We don’t take non of that here!” was the snooty redneck reply I got. 
)
Any bank in the US that even handles currency exchange charge such a high “exchange fee” that it’s not worth it for small bills. I still have a $10 Canadian bill that I had left over from my honeymoon in 1996. A couple of times I’ve asked about getting US money for it: both times, the exchange fee’s been about $5, so my final amount back was only $2. I’ve decided to keep it in my wallet for good luck.
As well, 1967 was our Centennial.
An American $1 bill of similar vintage would be of interest because it looks markedly different from contemporary dollar bills. IIRC in those days they were all Silver Certificates, so there was a differently colored seal, and a clause attesting that it could be redeemed by the bearer in silver. Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) didn’t come any lower than $5.
Aside from the seal and the payability clause, a $1-bill of today does look superficially like one of the old silver certificates. George Washington is there like you’d expect. Less well known is the fact that the scrollwork tracery on the obverse also went through some changes in the transition to $1 FRNs. In the silver certificate, the numeral 1’s on the obverse are completely surrounded by cartouches of a somewhat severe yet intricately detailed design that includes the word “One” in small letters above the numeral. The $1 FRNs have the numeral 1’s encircled by ovals of simpler design that look vaguely botanical, and the spelled out ‘ones’ are gone.
Did Canada use to have types of currency that are now obsolete?
‘Retail clerk’ is a particularly transparent euphemism?
Well, there have been some fairly serious redesigns since 1954–none of this ‘maintaining the look’ business; we like to redecorate!–but I think everything is still legal tender going back to the days of the Canadian pound (mid-1800s).
I’d think it more likely that they just got stuck with them when they crossed back over the border, rather than that they were actively trying to collect them.
For some reason, I thought that $1 Canadian bills couldn’t be used. I have one sitting in my drawer of foreign money…(thread idea…hmm…)
I go to Canada every few months for work. Can I just spend it, expecting anyone to accept it? Or do I need to it to a loonie? Do I need to go to a bank?
-D/a
Yep, I met customers who hadn’t been to Canada since they’d visited for the Expo or Montreal Olympics, or who’d had family members who’d visited and had money left over. And as for being “euphemistic”, that made me snort milk up my nose. No, it really was a boring sales job and not anything more salacious.
No, it can be used. It is still valid currency. Some store clerks might wonder about it, but I think many would recognize and accept it.
any note issued by the Bank of Canada issued prior to June 1936 and any BoC note after that date is still valid. So too are any notes issued prior to the mod-1930s that were an obligation of the federal government. Bank notes issued by the federally chartered banks