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Canadian $100, front, Birds Design

Canadian $100, back, Birds Design

The Canadian $100 bill is one of five different banknotes of Canadian currency. It is the highest-valued and least-circulated of the bills.

The current 100-dollar bill is dominantly brown in colour. The front features a portrait of Sir Robert Borden, the coat of arms, and a picture of the East Block of the Parliament buildings. Security features visible from the front include a hologram strip along the left side, depicting the number 100 alternated with maple leaves; a watermark of Borden's portrait; and a broken-up number 100, which resolves itself when backlit. The reverse side depicts themes in Canadian exploration, including a map drawn by Samuel de Champlain and a canoe that would be used in his era, as well as a telecommunications antenna, the RADARSAT-1 satellite and a satellite image of Canada; it also has a quotation from Miriam Waddington's poem "Jacques Cartier in Toronto". The reverse also has a visible security feature: an interleaved metallic strip, reading '100 CAN' repeatedly along its length. Yellow dots representing the EURion constellation can be found on both sides (and on all 2001 series notes). As well as textured printing, this new 2004 design incorporates a special tactile feature similar to Braille dots for the blind indicating the denomination.

The older "Birds of Canada" design remained in circulation as of late 2004. It featured, on the front, a portrait of Sir Robert Borden, the coat of arms, and a picture of the Centre Block of Parliament. On the reverse side was a wilderness scene with Canada Geese. It also had a holographic sticker showing the amount in the top left side, which changes from gold to green when tilted. The front had a wavy background of extremely small but still clear numeral 100s. This "micro-printed" background is very hard to copy. Some of the printing on a 100 is textured so that it is easy to feel, quite different from normal printing.

All Canadian banknotes underwent a major redesign in 1986, partially to incorporate some of the latest anti-forgery methods. Bills continue to be improved, with the latest design placed into circulation on 17 March 2004. Notes are printed on paper composed of pure cotton at two Ottawa companies contracted for the purpose. They are the Canadian Bank Note Company and BA International Inc., a part of the Giesecke & Devrient GmbH group of companies.

Each bill in the 1991 series was sprinkled with special green ink dots that glow when exposed to ultraviolet light. The ink can be scraped off, so worn bills tend to have fewer, if any, glowing dots. These were replaced with more permanent ultraviolet-detected threads in the new bills, as well as an ink imprint of the coat of arms.

Despite these numerous security features, many small and medium sized Canadian retailers continue to implement policies wherein $100 bills are not accepted for use in customer transactions.

As with all modern Canadian banknotes, all text is in both English and French.

• Bank of Canada banknote site