header Notes Collection

20 Dollars 2008, Canada

in Krause book Number: 103b
Years of issue: 2008 - 02.2010
Serie: Canadian journey
Specimen of: 29.09.2004
Material: 75% cotton, 25% kraft fibre
Size (mm): 152.4 х 69.85
Printer: Canadian Bank Note Company Limited, Ottawa



20 Dollars 2008






20 Dollars 2008

HM The Queen Elizabeth II

HM The Queen Elizabeth II.

The photograph, from which this engraving is executed, was commissioned by the Queen's representatives at Buckingham Palace in year 2000. It was specifically requested by the Bank of Canada for the production of its 20-dollar note introduced in September 2004. The engraving on the banknote was prepared by Mr. Jorge Peral, Artistic Director for the Canadian Bank Note Company. The creative design for the twenty-dollar note, on which the portrait appears, was led by the Canadian Bank Note Company in co-operation with BA International. Both companies have printed notes for the Bank of Canada since its inception in 1935.

This is one of the more attractive portraits of the mature Queen and its rendition on the 20-dollar note maintains the Bank of Canada's reputation of using the better portraits of Queen Elizabeth.

For this portrait, Her Majesty is informally attired in a plain dress and wearing one of her favoured pearl necklaces.

silver jubilee necklace

The Three Strand Pearl Necklaces.






Queen Alexandra’s Cluster Earrings


In the middle is the central block of Canadian parliament building in Ottawa.

center block

Perched on a wild bluff that rises out of the Ottawa River, the Centre Block is the exquisite Gothic Revival-style home of Canada's Senate, House of Commons and Library of Parliament.

Raised out of the ashes of destruction, this architectural masterpiece was designed and decorated to pay homage to its country's people, history and freedoms. Rebuilt between 1916 and 1927 in the lingering shadow of the First World War, its treasures within and without are feeling the weight of time.

In the coming years, a modernization of Centre Block and its contents will be carried out to ensure it continues to stand as a tribute to all Canadians and to serve at the heart of Canada's democracy. (Public works and government services Canada)

The coat of arms of Canada, maple leafs and denomination 20 on hologram strip (left).

Denomination in numeral is on the right side.


20 Dollars 2008

The art of Canadian artist Bill Reid (Bill Reid, 12.01.1920 - 13.03.1998), as well as quote a passage from the novel by writer Gabrielle Roy.

“Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?”. Is a quote from Gabrielle Roy, one of the most famous authors of Canada.

It’s juxtaposed with images of BC First Nations artist Bill Reid’s sculptures “The Spirit of Haida Gwaii” and “Raven and the First Men”.

Bill RaidThe sculpture was originally created in 1986 as a 1⁄6-scale clay model, enlarged in 1988, to full-size clay. In 1991, the model was cast in bronze. This first bronze casting was entitled The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, the Black Canoe and is now displayed outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. The second bronze casting, entitled The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, the Jade Canoe, was first displayed at the Canadian Museum of History in 1994. Finally, in 1995, the "Jade Canoe" (as it is generally called) was moved to the International Terminal at Vancouver International Airport, where it remains today.

The Spirit of Haida Gwaii is intended to represent the Aboriginal heritage of the Haida Gwaii region in Canada's Haida Gwaii, formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands. In green-coloured bronze on the Vancouver version and black-coloured on the Washington version, it shows a traditional Haida cedar dugout canoe which totals six metres in length. The canoe carries the following passengers:

Raven, the traditional trickster of Haida mythology, holding the steering oar; Mouse Woman, crouched under Raven's tail;

Grizzly Bear, sitting at the bow and staring toward Raven;

Bear Mother, Grizzly's human wife;

Their cubs, Good Bear (ears pointed forward) and Bad Bear (ears pointed back); Beaver, Raven's uncle;

Dogfish Woman; Eagle;


Wolf, claws imbedded in Beaver's back and teeth in Eagle's wing;

a small human paddler in Haida garb known as the Ancient Reluctant Conscript; and, at the sculpture's focal point, the human Shaman (or Kilstlaai in Haida), who wears the Haida cloak and woven spruce root hat and holds a tall staff carved with the Seabear, Raven, and Killer whale.

Consistent with Haida tradition, the significance of the passengers is highly symbolic. The variety and interdependence of the canoe's occupants represents the natural environment on which the ancient Haida relied for their very survival: the passengers are diverse, and not always in harmony, yet they must depend on one another to live. The fact that the cunning trickster, Raven, holds the steering oar is likely symbolic of nature's unpredictability. The sculpture is 6 meters (20 feet) long, not quite 4 meters (13.2 feet) from the base to the top of the Shaman's staff, and weighs nearly 5000 kilograms (11,000 pounds).

Bill RaidRaven is the one of the main figures of mythology Canadian Haida Indian tribe. One of the most famous stories that the Haida tell is the story of Raven. The story begins during a time when there was only water and the sky above. There was no earth, only a single reef that came out of the water. A reef is a chain of rocks close to the surface of the water or sticking out of it. All of the great beings lived on top of this reef. The greatest of the beings lived on highest point of the reef. Next to him were all the others stretched in a row. Finally at the end was the weakest of the great beings. The great flying being, Raven, flew above but couldn't find a place to land. He decided that he would travel to the sky country instead.

In the sky country, there was a town that was set up in five rows. In the town, the chief's daughter had a baby. During the night, Raven entered the chief's house, scooped the baby out of its skin and took its place, becoming Raven Child. Then Raven Child began to get hungry, so he took an eye from everyone in the first row of the village and ate them all. He did this for four more nights with each of the other rows in the village. A woman made of stone saw everything that was happening, and she told the sky people about it. The chief of the town called everyone together and sang a song for Raven Child. One of the people was holding Raven Child in his cradle and dropped him. He fell down though the sky and drifted on the water.

Suddenly Raven Child heard a voice say, "Your grandfather is going to let you in." He stepped out onto a two-headed totem pole made of stone and he found he could climb up and down it. He climbed down and found a house at the bottom. He entered the house and found a man that looked like a seagull. The man said to Raven Child, "Put this speckled stone in the water first and the black one next. After you do this, bite off a piece of each and spit it out. You will see them unite and become one." Raven Child did as he was told. When the two pieces came together they began to appear as trees. He put them in the water and they stretched and became the land called Haida Gwaii.

After this, Raven Child was able to make many things. When the great waters had gone down, Raven Child summoned four groups of human beings. One of the groups of human beings was the Haida.

We learn from this oral tradition that the Haida believe in a world that lives above them, an earth world in the middle, and a world below the earth. The story also tells us that the trees and land are sacred to the Haida. The Raven is also sacred. He is a trickster who is greedy and mischievous, but who also teaches humans how to live a good life. The Raven has supernatural powers and uses them to obtain important things for humans. He stole the sun, moon and stars for humans, as well as giving them fresh water, salmon and fire. When the Haida look at their country, they understand the story of Raven. His creation is all around them. (Library and Archives Canada)

On background, above “The Spirit of Haida Gwaii” is another art of Bill Reid - masque of Grizzly bear "Xhuwaji", 1990.


The engraving on banknote is made after Haida Grizzly Bear - Xhuwaji, 1990. Serigraph on paper. Size: 58.64 x 56.64 cm. Bill Reid Foundation Collection, BRFC#60.

Gift of Dr. Martine Reid, the Government of Canada, the BRF Trustees. Photo: Kenji Nagai.

The Haida Grizzly Bear design originated as a ceremonial drum created by Bill Reid and was produced by the Sam family of Ahousat, British Columbia in 1988. The drum is now a part of the Artists for Kids permanent collection. In 1990, in collaboration with print maker Terra Bonnieman, Bill Reid refined the original design of Xhuwaji / Haida Grizzly Bear to create a serigraph of which copies were sold to raise funds for the Artists for Kids Trust.

The Artists for Kids Trust was established in 1989 through a generous partnership between some of Canada’s finest artists and the North Vancouver School District. Its mission, through the sale of original prints created by its patron artists, is to build an art education legacy for the children of British Columbia.

The male grizzly bear was a favourite image of Bill Reid, and he used it in his jewelry designs and sculpture. The round image of Xhuwaji / Haida Grizzly Bear symbolizes strength and shows the grizzly bear in the traditional Haida colours of red and black. The bear’s large flaring nostrils attest to its fierce character and the protruding tongue symbolizes the oral nature of the Haida people.

The illustration used for the $20 banknote was coloured in yellow and orange for security, technical, and aesthetic reasons. (Bill Reid Foundation)

2) The Image of heroes from the legends of Haida, which are treated as Mythic Messengers. This image is a part of the sculpture "Mythic Messengers", created by Bill Reid in 1984.

Mythic MessengersMythic Messengers is a high relief bronze frieze, 8.5 m. long, 1.2 m. high, 45.7 cm deep, commissioned by Teleglobe Canada for their headquarters in Burnaby, B.C. and unveiled November 7, 1984. The BCE Group donated it to the Bill Reid Foundation in 2001. It was cast at the Harman Sculpture Foundry in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The sculpture was on loan to the Vancouver International Airport Authority where it was installed on a specially-built architrave in the international terminal near Reid’s The Spirit of Haida Gwaii (The Jade Canoe), until 2008 when it was installed in the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art where it is now on display.

A second casting of Mythic Messengers can be viewed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Québec.

Bill Reid said “this work was inspired by a device often used by Haida artists, an exchange of tongues, whereby power was communicated from one mythic creature to another. At a deeper level, the power of these old forms, born of a mythological past, reinterpreted through new materials and techniques, in a contemporary setting, can still speak to us across time, space, and enormous cultural differences.”

Mythic MessengersThe engraving on banknote is made after Haida Myths Portfolio, "Nanasimget". One of five images in folio, with plexiglass case, 1983. Offset commercial print. Size: 44.8 x 58 cm. (Bill Reid Foundation)

Denominations in numerals are in top left and lower right corners.



First issue: 29.09.2004