A ONE-of-a-kind £5 banknote has sold for an astonishing price at auction – nearly 5,000 times its face value.
The highly unusual Bank of England note was printed in Birmingham in 1892 and signed by the chief cashier Frank May.
It was expected to sell for £26,000 but was eventually bought by an unnamed buyer for £24,000 last week.
Ahead of the sale, auctioneers said it was the rarest Birmingham five pound note in existence and described it coming to the market as a “lifetime chance” for collectors.
The rare £5 note, from the Bank of England’s Birmingham branch, went under the hammer at the sale of British and Irish Banknotes at Noonans Mayfair on October 15.
The £5 note was Lot number 224 in the auction, with a total of 1,300 lots sold.
Andrew Pattison, head of the banknote department at Noonans, said: “The note is being sold by a long-term collector of high-end Bank of England notes, and we believe it is the rarest Birmingham £5 in existence.
“It is also likely to be the most expensive, as we fully anticipate that it will match or exceed its estimate.
“With this being the only known example in private hands, when we say a once in a lifetime chance for collectors, we really mean it.”
Rare coins
Earlier this month, a rare 50p coin sold for more than 5,000 times its face value after a fierce eBay bidding war.
The “Lines Across The Face” 2011 Olympic Aquatics piece sold for a massive £2,606.56.
It is not just old banknotes that can sell for a tidy sum of money.
A King Charles III £5 note frecently sold for thousands at auction.
A rare £5 note fetched £2,800 on eBay, and this is the small detail you should be paying attention to in order to find out if you could be sitting on a fortune.
The serial number on the note is the key.
These are the prefixes to look out for on each bank note which is an indicator as to whether or not they are valuable.
£10 notes featuring the serial number HB 01 are considered desirable as are £5 notes with the serial number CA 01 and £20 notes with the EH 01 prefix, followed by a low number such as 000002 or 000003.
The £5 note sold on eBay had the serial number CA01 000046, making it extremely desirable for collectors.
What to look out for on your banknotes
The serial number on the note is the key.
These are the prefixes to look out for on each bank note which is an indicator as to whether or not they are valuable.
£10 notes featuring the serial number HB 01 are considered desirable as are £5 notes with the serial number CA 01 and £20 notes with the EH 01 prefix, followed by a low number such as 000002 or 000003.
