THE new £20 notes are now in circulation. And the right ones are worth a lot more than that. Banknotes with early serial numbers are very popular with collectors.
The very first one, bearing the code AA01 000001, is given to the Queen. But serial numbers close to that could net you a healthy profit online. The note’s unique code can be found on the back of the note. Here are six other sought-after banknotes that give maximum bang for your buck.
1. 888888 £5 note
Value: Up to £150 – A rare £5 note with a serial number of 888888 recently sold on eBay for £149.02.
Listed on the auction site with its face value as the starting price, it got 19 bids in total.
The winning bid was almost 30 times higher.
Check to see if your note has an eye-grabbing serial number like this.
2. AK47 £5 note
Value: Up to £93 – Some gun-mad collectors like notes with an AK47 serial number, a nod to the AK-47 assault rifle.
One such note recently sold on eBay for £93.09 after attracting eight bids.
But beware if you are selling a similar one online. In 2016, Gareth Wright sold an AK47 fiver for an astonishing £80,000 on eBay.
It was too good to be true. The buyer did not pay up and admitted he bid as a wind-up.
3. AA01 M Lowther £10 note
Value: Up to £65 – The Merlyn Lowther and Charles Darwin paper tenners were replaced by a Jane Austen polymer in 2017.
Shoppers were urged to change old notes for new but you may still have an old bill at home. This particular one sold for £65 on eBay, although it is not entirely clear why.
It was uncirculated, meaning it looked brand-new and had no handling folds or creases.
Or perhaps collectors were keen because it was printed in 2000 with an AA01 serial code, making it one of the first to be printed in the new millennium.
4. Jane Austen £10 note with low serial numbers
Value: Up to £44 – The polymer tenners don’t seem to be as popular as the fivers but some will net you profit.
Notes with low serial numbers – typically starting AA01 – are valuable as being among the first to be printed in a run.
A note bearing AA01 442444 recently sold for £43.31 online after a bidding war from four enthusiasts.
5. ‘James Bond’ £5 note
Value: Up to £28 – Collectors love serial numbers featuring the fictional spy’s famous 007 tag.
Three years ago, one with the serial number AK37 007012 sold for £5,000 on eBay.
But the highest bid this year on the so-called “Bond note” is a more modest £28.
6. Jane Austen £5 notes
Value: Up to £5,000 – In 2016, the Bank of England launched the new polymer £5 note, featuring Winston Churchill.
Micro-artist Graham Short engraved a tiny portrait of author Jane Austen into the hologram on just five notes. He donated one to the Jane Austen Museum in Chawton, Hants, but spent the other four in local stores and cafes around the country before letting the public know what he had done.
The notes were estimated to be worth up to £50,000 apiece, sparking a nationwide treasure hunt. Three have been tracked down so far. Are YOU sitting on the fourth?
If so, you could net a tidy profit, although not nearly as high as that initial estimate. The most a Short note has sold for – so far – is £5,000 at a charity auction.
