Jerome Fourre, a charter member of the Canadian Tire Coupon Collectors Club, recently shared one of only about 300 Canadian Tire notes printed with a mismatched serial number.
Like all Canadian Tire notes, the 50-cent “cash bonus coupon” (catalogued as CTC S27-E03) includes two serial numbers on the back. While the one to the left reads “3026114985,” the other one reads “3016114985” – something that occurs “about once in every 10,000 notes,” according to Fourre, of Québec, who has been collecting for about 35 years.
“Usually only one digit differs, but some notes have been found where three or four digits are not the same,” he said, adding three billion Canadian Tire notes have been printed since 1958, and only about 300 have been recorded with mismatched serial numbers.
“Ninety per cent of the Canadian Tire notes that are mismatched were printed by Canadian Bank Note Company.”
In Extremely Fine condition, this example is estimated at about $35. It’s found in a small range of serial numbers with about 140 possible notes.
“An uncirculated note of this range sells for approximately $50 in UNC (Uncirculated). Some other larger ranges – 300 to 1,000 notes – sell for much less, between $5 and $15 for an UNC.”