# Canada has a new $10 banknote -- and it's gorgeous. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 8, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252 "2018-03-08T18:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/41 "2018-03-12T20:12:11Z")
I’m still hoping that, when they eventually introduce a $5 coin, it’ll feature a picture of an albatross, so you can have a loonie, a toonie, and a goonie. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/42 "2018-03-12T20:21:18Z")
I saw the short footage of her sister seeing the minted bill for the first time and it’s just lovely all around. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/43 "2018-12-15T07:47:37Z")
And I have some! They were released a couple of weeks ago, and I came home yesterday to find nine of them spread out on the kitchen table. 🙂 I had been to the local branch of RBC to get some on payday, but RBC said that their equipment wasn’t yet calibrated to dispense them, and if they were getting any, they were just depositing them. Seriously? You’re a branch of one of the Big Five/Six/Whatever banks, you’ve had six months to prepare, and you’re this far behind? I think my friend banks at TD. They are still mostly purple. I do like the vertical orientation, and the strong colour contrast between the white and purple areas. The shiny representation of the Library of Parliament ceiling is gorgeous, but doesn’t seem to quite go with the rest of the design. If you look at a light through the bill from the back, Ms. Desmond’s eyes appear ghostily in the windows of the Museum of Human Rights… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/44 "2018-12-15T17:52:32Z")
I’ve not seen it yet. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/45 "2018-12-15T18:23:32Z")
It’s interesting how quickly you become used to something. I’ve seen so many at work that I don’t even notice them anymore. I do like them, though! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/46 "2018-12-15T20:52:45Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Um, no, clearly you lack experience counting large numbers of bills (e.g., from retail registers): one holds them the long way, like cards, slightly bowed along the long axis, and slides through the stack. For counting a small number of them, like walking through your wallet, the wide way may be ok, but for big stacks, only the long way is practical. That doesn’t match my experience. I’ve worked retail and made up the deposit, and also been the treasurer of a non-profit that ran a big cultural event,\* and I never counted notes that way. Always landscape, not portrait. - Largest cash deposit I ever made was about $80,000. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/47 "2018-12-16T01:18:35Z")
To me, that portrait seems to make her look awfully white. Odd, for a black woman famed for her involvement in Canadian Civil Rights activity. Maybe that’s the best that can be done in currency engraving. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/48 "2018-12-16T07:23:03Z")
The engraving is very close to a photograph I’ve been seeing of her. Major difference is that her lips are darker in the photograph. It’s the “circa 1940” photograph in the wikipedia article: > **[Viola Desmond](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Desmond)** > > Viola Irene Desmond (July 6, 1914 – February 7, 1965) was a Canadian civil and women's rights activist and businesswoman of Black Nova Scotian descent. In 1946, she challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, by refusing to leave a whites-only area of the Roseland Theatre. For this, she was convicted of a minor tax violation for the one-cent tax difference between the seat that she had paid for and the seat that she used, which was more expensive. Desmond's case is on... ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/49 "2018-12-16T18:56:08Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > We still have bank notes? > > In all seriousness, I don’t remember the last time I bought something with cash. I carry a couple twenties in my wallet just in case, but it’s been the same two bills for a couple years now. Me, just a fiver, since about the mid-2000’s. I’ll get, er, oriented, to the new 10’s orientation, one of the better ones I’ve seen. Always dug our funky cash, along with the [Dutch paper money from the gulden time.](https://www.redbubble.com/people/akoene232/works/2893914-dutch-money-from-the-gulden-time) ETA: always liked the sunflower and lighthouse ones. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/50 "2018-12-16T22:33:02Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > … [Dutch paper money from the gulden time.](https://www.redbubble.com/people/akoene232/works/2893914-dutch-money-from-the-gulden-time) > > ETA: always liked the sunflower and lighthouse ones. That 1982 sunflower 50-gulden note is my all-time favourite design. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/51 "2018-12-17T23:33:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, I thought that all Canadian currency featured the Queen (or whomever the current monarch is). > > And the portrait orientation is really messing with my head. Logically, there’s no reason that a banknote must be oriented in landscape, but I’ve seen so many that way that any other way just looks wrong. I’ve always wished we could have that here. Something like a “Famous Waterfalls And Tall Buildings” series, where the portrait on the front and the image on the back would have to in portrait orientation. Or hell, why not “Triumphs In Rocketry”? As it is, for all the new watermarks and other security features, American currency has just continued getting more “flat” and dull looking. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/52 "2018-12-17T23:39:48Z")
Honestly, It looks like a theater ticket. But if Canadians like it then I’m happy for them. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/53 "2018-12-19T01:50:28Z")
I just ordered one from eBay. It cost $15 or so with delivery from Canada. I know I could get one cheaper somehow, but it’s soooo cool! Another cool one is the [1985 Dutch 250 Guilden](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Netherlands-250-Gulden-1985-Lighthouse-Unc-RARE-note-Pn-98a-/113028786202) lighthouse note. The vertical side is a great place to put a lighthouse. I’d love to get one, but they’ve gotten quite expensive. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/54 "2018-12-19T04:07:20Z")
Wow, they really went to town with the Level 1 features. That looks like it might be Sicpa Spark for the eagle feather and I think that the metallic is probably a G+D LEAD foil. But I’m guessing on both. Looks like a ton of offset printing as well and fairly light on the intaglio. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/55 "2018-12-19T05:27:54Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > To me, that portrait seems to make her look awfully white. Odd, for a black woman famed for her involvement in Canadian Civil Rights activity. > > Maybe that’s the best that can be done in currency engraving. Bear in mind that her mother was white, so paler skin is not surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/56 "2019-05-01T04:29:01Z")
A minor bump… the vertical $10 was voted [best banknote of 2018](https://www.theibns.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=701%3Acanada-captures-ibns-bank-note-of-year-award&catid=36%3Abnoy-2017&Itemid=51) by the International Bank Note Society. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/57 "2019-05-01T14:10:03Z")
Finally saw my first note in the wild getting my change at Sobey’s. It looks much better in person compared to the pics. I like it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/58 "2019-05-01T20:53:43Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > A minor bump… the vertical $10 was voted [best banknote of 2018](https://www.theibns.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=701%3Acanada-captures-ibns-bank-note-of-year-award&catid=36%3Abnoy-2017&Itemid=51) by the International Bank Note Society. 🙂 OTOH, the competition included, from the Solomon Islands, “40 Dollar man blowing conch shell”, something that might have been interesting to see even though I have some trepidations about what it actually means. P.S.- It is, actually, a pretty design. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/59 "2019-05-02T01:27:47Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > I know this is a total nitpick, but she was also on the one, two, and thousand dollar bills before they were withdrawn, which are all still legal currency. You are correct for bills being currently produced though. She was also on the five, ten, fifty and hundred notes in the series from the 1950s, all of which are still legal tender. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252/60 "2019-05-02T07:28:10Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > Finally saw my first note in the wild getting my change at Sobey’s. It looks much better in person compared to the pics. I like it. I got one in my change at the race book a couple of weeks ago. Rather nice; I’ve set it aside for now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-has-a-new-10-banknote-and-its-gorgeous/810252.md?page=2)