First banknotes with King’s portrait sell for nearly £1m

A series of notes with early serial numbers sold to collectors for twelve times their face value

A series of banknotes which were among the first to feature the King have been auctioned for £914,127, with the proceeds going to several charities.
The notes, which sold for far more than their face value of £78,000, were among the earliest to be released after new £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes entered circulation in June.
One sheet of £50 notes went for £26,000, breaking the record for the highest lot sold in a Bank of England banknote auction.
This was followed by the £10 auction where a single note was sold for £17,000 with the serial number HB01 00002.
Collectors look for banknotes with the lowest serial number possible – as close to 00001 as they can find – and pay above the odds.
The auction was carried out by Spink in London.
Sarah John, chief cashier and executive director of banking at the Bank of England, said: “I am thrilled that the auctions and public ballot of low-numbered King Charles III banknotes have raised a remarkable £914,127 that will be donated to 10 charities chosen by Bank of England staff.
“Each charity does incredible work and the monies raised will have a positive impact on people across the UK.”
The list of charities is Childhood Trust, the Trussell Trust, Shout, Carers UK, Demelza, WWF-UK, the Brain Tumour Charity, London’s Air Ambulance Charity, Child Bereavement UK and the Samaritans.
There are more than 4.6 billion Bank of England notes in circulation, worth about £82 billion.
Although the Bank of England started to produce banknotes in the 17th century, Charles’s mother, the late Queen, was the first British sovereign to be given the honour of appearing on one, on the 1960 £1 paper note.
The use of banknotes and paper cash is declining, with a recent survey for Link indicating that nearly half (48 per cent) of people expect to see a cashless society in their lifetime.
Nevertheless, post offices handled a record amount of cash in July, with transactions totalling £3.77 billion.