GOT some cash burning a hole in your pocket? You could actually be sitting on a fortune far greater than you think, with some sought-after banknotes worth thousands of pounds.
Collectors are always keen to get their hands on rare notes and will pay over the odds – so by simply knowing what to look for and having a dig about in your purse, you could make an absolute mint.
They often look like any other note to the naked eye though, so how are you supposed to know whether your regular £5, £10 or £20 denomination is actually a potential goldmine?
From those with certain serial numbers, to others with printing errors – here’s exactly how to spot some the rarest notes and earn yourself an absolute fortune.
Notes with unique serial numbers
Banknotes printed by the Bank of England (BoE) feature unique “serial numbers” to identify and date them.
Each note starts with a four-digit prefix followed by the unique six-digit serial number.
But notes with certain serial numbers are more sought after than others.
Kate Morgan, from Change Checker, said the £20 polymer notes featuring JMW Turner on the reverse side, first put into circulation in 2020, can sell high if the serial numbers are relevant to the painter.
For example, if you have a note with a serial number such as 041775, his date of birth, that could sell for a small fortune.
Meanwhile, one with 121851, the date Turner died, could also fetch a decent figure.
Bank of EnglandThe JMW Turner £20 note can sell for thousands if it’s got the right serial number[/caption]Kate added: “True Turner fans might also look for 18 381839 on £20 polymer notes, representing the date he painted ‘The Fighting Temeraire’.”
New-style polymer Alan Turing £50 notes featuring certain serial numbers have been known to bag their owners decent sums too.
Kate said: “Certain serial numbers matching key dates relating to Turing are collectable, such as 23 061912 which represents Turing’s date of birth.
“07 061954 relates to his death and 09 071941 represents the date that the enigma code was cracked by Turing and his team at Bletchley Park during WW2.”
Keep an eye out for notes with “collectable” serial numbers too, Kate says.
For example, one where the first four digits are AK47, like the machine gun, could sell high.
Or, one with the serial number 007 – as a keen James Bond fan might be willing to snap it up.
Bank of EnglandThe £50 polymer note that can sell for thousands with a low serial number[/caption]'I made £70 by selling a rare 50p coin'
IT'S not just rare banknotes that you can sell on for a handsome profit, but rare coins as well.
Dad-of-one Jonny Langdown sold a rare Benjamin Bunny 50p coin with a minting error for £70.
The 34-year-old property developer is a keen collector but didn’t realise the piece was so valuable until posting about it on a Coins for Free Facebook group.
“I wasn’t even looking to sell the coin,” he told The Sun.
“But I had messages offering to buy it within 10 minutes of posting.”
A coin collector messaged him privately and offered £70 for the 50p.
Notes with low serial numbers
Collectors are also keen to get their hands on notes with low serial numbers.
This is usually because these are the first banknotes of their type to be issued by the Bank of England.
In a host of auctions held by Spink and Son last year selling newly-printed King Charles III notes, £5, £10 and £20 notes with low serial numbers sold for thousands of pounds.
A sheet of 40 £50 banknotes sold for £26,000 – 13 times their face value.
Kate MorganChange CheckerIn one, a £10 note with the serial number HB01 000002 sold for a whopping £17,000.
Kate added: “The £50 banknote auction even broke the record for the highest lot sold in a Bank of England banknote auction.
“A sheet of 40 £50 banknotes sold for £26,000 – 13 times their face value.”
A previous auction held by the BoE saw newly-printed £5 polymer notes sell for thousands of pounds too, Kate said.
The polymer note with the lowest serial number, AA01 000017, sold for a sizeable £4,150.
Notes featuring key historical figures with low serial numbers have also been known to sell on for thousands of pounds too, including Jake Austen notes, Kate said.
Notes with AA01 000011 and AA01 000014 serial numbers have fetched £5,200 and £3,500, respectively, at auction before.
An example of a rare £20 note with a low serial number Arnas Savickas, auctioneer from Spink and Son, holding up a rare £5 note that sold for £11,000The most commonly-asked questions about banknotes
These are some of the most commonly-asked questions about banknotes, according to the Bank of England (BoE), and their answers:
Do banknotes carry germs? Like any other surface that large numbers of people come into contact with, banknotes can carry bacteria or viruses. However, the risk posed by handling a banknote is no greater than touching any other common surface, such as handrails, doorknobs or credit cards. What does the “promise to pay” on banknotes mean? The words “I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of five/ten/twenty/fifty pounds” dates from when notes represented deposits of gold. At that time, a member of the public could exchange one of our banknotes for gold of the same value. What does “legal tender” mean? Legal tender relates to settling debts and means if you are in debt to someone, you can’t be sued for non-payment if you offer full payment of your debts in legal tender. Who decides who appears on new banknotes? When new notes are issued, the Banknote Character Advisory Committee chooses a field to celebrate on the note and invites the public to nominate who they think should appear on it. Then, the Banknote Character Advisory Committee creates a shortlist and presents it to our Governor, who makes the final choice.Error bank notes
Banknotes that have been put into circulation with printing errors can sell for multiple times their face value.
One ultra-rare £10 note with one blank side triggered a major bidding war, eventually selling for £255 last year.
In 2021, a £5 banknote sold for £24 because the picture of The Queen in the watermark was in the wrong place.
The note wasn’t even in great condition, so one in a tip-top state could sell for even more.
How to sell a rare banknote
There are two main ways you can sell a rare banknote – auction and eBay.
An auction is one of the best methods, as you can get a note accurately valued and put in front of collectors willing to pay good money.
You usually don’t have to pay to get a rare note valued either.
However, bear in mind you will most likely have to pay commission if the note gets sold by an auctioneer.
If you are going to sell on eBay, check out what other sellers have listed a similar note for so you know how to price yours.
For example, if you can see someone has sold an error note similar to yours for £20, you know to list yours for around that amount.
EBay recently scrapped seller fees apart from on big ticket items like cars and motorbikes too so you can earn some extra cash for your rare note without being charged.
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