Finding rare notes is by no means as straightforward as some reports have claimed. We spoke to industry experts to find out what to look out for, what to beware of and how much various rare notes are REALLY worth.
Sections
Spotting valuable notes
The launch of the new polymer £10 note has grabbed the interest of the British public, with many punters hoping to get their hands on a valuable Jane Austen tenner.
In the aftermath of the launch of the new Churchill £5 note last year, dealers were getting more than 50 calls a day from people who thought they had a note worth thousands of pounds.
As one of them put it: “The vast majority of those notes were worth about £5.”
So how do you go about spotting a note – new £10 or any other denomination – and what should you do once you find one?
We spoke to a couple of industry experts to learn more.
Note not rare or valuable? Put it in a top savings accounts
Watch out for misleading information
It’s easy to get carried away when you read reports of notes that people took out of a cashpoint, and sold a few days later for thousands of pounds.
However, most of these reports are wildly misleading says Pam West, founder of dealer British Notes and author of a comprehensive guide to note values, English Paper Money.
She cites the example of a £5 note that attracted bids of £80,000 on eBay.
At the same time, she had a very similar note on sale for £45.
In the end, the eBay auction winner never paid up.
In fact, many of these eye-catching auctions came to nothing, so the sales figures that hit the headlines were meaningless.
This is frustrating for all those involved in a failed sale, and holds risks for others who read about the sale too.
Andrew Pattison, a banknote specialist with auctioneers Spink & Son, warns that, if people read that a note has sold for thousands, they think they’re getting a bargain when they see the same note for sale for hundreds of pounds.
In fact, that note could be worth little more than face value.
Note not rare or valuable? Put it in a top savings accounts
New £10 note presents many opportunities
How much are these notes worth?
Don’t overestimate the prefix
Look after that note!
Even with the right serial number, there’s another factor that could dramatically reduce the value of your note.
Pattison says: “If it’s not in mint condition then the chance of it being worth anything are very slim, because there are so many notes out there.”
West adds: “Just because you got something out of a cashpoint, it doesn’t mean it’s in mint condition: they go in and out of banks several times over, so it may well already be in ‘circulated’ condition.”
Likewise, she adds, a common misconception is that you can fold a note in half and it is still in mint condition. If it has been in a wallet and folded, it will not be mint.
Note not rare or valuable? Put it in a top savings accounts
Older notes: which are valuable?
Dates to look out for
As a rough rule of thumb, Pattison says anything from before 1960 is worth getting valued.
Even the 1956 old black and white fivers, which a lot of people kept, can sell for good money. One in mint condition is worth about £50.
He also says it’s worth checking if you have any provincial banknotes. He says: “Banks in virtually every part of the UK used to print their own notes.
They are very interesting from a local point of view, and people like to collect them, so they can go for anything between £100 and £1,000.”
Note not rare or valuable? Put it in a top savings accounts
Errors are rare. And valuable
How to get a note valued
The best way to check if you have a valuable note is to take it to a dealer in person – as it’s the best way they can get an idea of the condition as well as the note itself.
If you don’t have one locally, look out for events like the IBNS World Money Fair in London on 29 September.
If you’d been hoping that your fortune lay in a £5 or £10 note, the reality may be disappointing.
However, if it encourages you to ask your family and check your home for old notes, you could still end up with a positive result.
You may find something interesting, which could encourage you to start swapping or collecting notes.
West points out that there are clubs to join, friends to make, and meetings to go to around the world.
In the end, you could get much more out of a banknote collection than just money.