The rare £5 note, from the Bank of England’s Birmingham branch, will go under the hammer at the sale of British and Irish Banknotes at Noonans Mayfair on Wednesday and Thursday.
Produced in May 1892, the £5 note is Lot number 224 in the 1,300 lot strong auction.
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.
(Image: Noonans)
“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.”
Also expecting to fetch a similar amount is a £500 Bank of England note signed by Cyril P. Mahon and dated 15 December 1925. It is one of only four examples known to exist.
King Charles £5 note sells for £2,800
It is not just old banknotes that can sell for a tidy sum of money either.
All of us are being encouraged to pay close attention to our banknotes after a King Charles III £5 note 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.
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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 – HB 01
£5 notes – CA 01
£20 note – EH 01 prefix (followed by a low number like 000002 or 000003)
The £5 note sold on eBay had the serial number CA01 000046, making it extremely desirable for collectors.