Three tips to identify rare and profitable banknotes that could fetch thousands at auction

AN uncirculated £50 note from 2020 with the serial number AA888888 is expected to fetch £1,800 at auction.

The Royal Bank of Scotland polymer is among notes with a face-value of £21,000 that could eventually go for more than £400,000.

EBay

Notes with very early serial numbers are often sought-after because not many tend to make it into circulation[/caption]

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A note with the serial number AA1234567 is likely to be popular[/caption]

They are being sold by NatWest next month to raise money for food bank charity The Trussell Trust.

The prized RBS note features social reformer Flora Stevenson and Randolph Crescent in Edinburgh.

Some lots in the auction by Spinks date back more than 100 years and include a Bank of England 10 shilling note from 1919. But is your old note worth a packet? Here’s how to tell.

Early serial numbers: Notes with very early serial numbers are often sought-after because not many tend to make it into circulation.

The Bank of England donates new notes with key numbers to the people and institutions involved in its development. The first note, AA01 000001, is given to the monarch. Banks also donate rarities to charities for auction.

But not all the recent new £20 notes were reserved and some of the rarest AAs are in circulation. Anything with an A in its number could be worth more than the note’s value.

In 2017, an AA01 fiver sold for more than £60,000.

Consecutive serial numbers: These can also catch a collector’s eye, particularly if the numbers are low. If you can combine an early serial letter with a consecutive number you could be on to a winner.

One with AA1234567 is likely to be popular.

Fivers with serial numbers AA01090561 and AA01090562 sold for more than £50 in March 2020.

Special meanings: When the Jane Austen £10 notes came out in 2017, there was interest in numbers linked to her life.

Collectors hunted for 16 121775 and 18 071817 because they are the author’s birth and death dates.

The £20 notes released in 2020 feature artist JMW Turner, so serial numbers with his birth year – 1775 – could be a winner.

If you find one starting with an A that also includes his birth date, that would be worth even more.

One serial number to keep an eye out for is 1775 1851, which combines the painter’s birth and death dates.