Where's Willy

The long-awaited Canadian sequel to WheresGeorge.com, a website devoted to tracking the progress of American currency (bills). This site allows you to enter the serial number and series of your Canadian currency so that its progress can be tracked all around the great nation of Canada. The site also encourages you to mark your bills with the website address, though in a "reasonable and prudent manner". This way, "hits" are generated when the new owner of the bill travels to the site and enters the same bill serial and series into the database. A very interesting idea, indeed.

"Willy", of course, refers to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the first French Canadian Prime Minister. Laurier held office from 1896 to 1911 and his portrait is on the Canadian $5 bill. The bird on the $5 bill is the Belted Kingfisher.

A spinoff of the American Where's George Currency Tracker, Where's Willy www.whereswilly.com allows users to track Canadian bank notes as they travel across Canada.

The website is free for everyone's use, whether they're registered users or not. Registering allows users a multitude of options, including but not limited to e-mail notification of future hits, a personalized profile, access to provincial rankings, and summarized accounts of bills entered/hit.

If you recieve a bill with the Where's Willy URL written on it, or if you want to enter a new bill into the database, just enter the denomination, the year of issue, the serial number, and your local postal code. You should also enter a brief user note about the bill, indicating it's condition, where you found it, or anything else interesting about the bill.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not against the law to write messages on Canadian currency. It is a legal, fun, and extremely addictive hobby.

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Willy in fact refers to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Canadian Prime Minister who's face graces the Canadian five dollar bill.