• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
How to spot if you have rare King Charles note after one sells for £14,000 at auction

Home> News> UK News

Updated 10:24 25 Jul 2024 GMT+1Published 10:25 25 Jul 2024 GMT+1

How to spot if you have rare King Charles note after one sells for £14,000 at auction

There's a good reason why these notes are going for way more than their value

Joe Harker

Joe Harker

A wise person once said that money only has value because we collectively agree it does.

It may be a little bit of metal or a polymer sheet but we abide by the numbers stamped on them to maintain this agreement.

Whichever way you slice it a fiver is a fiver and you can't use that quid in your pocket to pay for something that costs more than a quid.

However, there are some bits of money that people will actually buy for more money than the money is worth.

Advert

At a Spink and Son charity auction yesterday (24 July) a plethora of new £50 notes with King Charles on them went for prices much higher than the face value of the note.

These notes were auctioned off for £14,000 and £5,800 respectively. (Instagram/@spink_auctions)
These notes were auctioned off for £14,000 and £5,800 respectively. (Instagram/@spink_auctions)

The first one up for auction sold for £14,000, while the second note was auctioned off for £5,800, as was the third.

The fourth went for £7,500 and in total 258 individual £50 notes were auctioned off, with the final one going for £1,300.

So why on Earth would someone be paying thousands of pounds for a £50 note?

Advert

I'm glad you asked, dear reader, and it's all to do with the serial numbers printed on the British banknote.

If you've got any notes with you right now you can have a look for yourself - have the note so the portrait of the whomever is on there that's not the monarch is facing you and look into the bottom right corner.

This is what makes the notes so valuable to collectors, as the lower the serial number the more people want the note.

King Charles was presented with the first printed £50 note, spot the AJ 01 000001 serial number in the corner. (Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
King Charles was presented with the first printed £50 note, spot the AJ 01 000001 serial number in the corner. (Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Certain collectors like to get notes with their own birthdays on them, but normally the prize pieces are the earliest printed notes.

Advert

The very lowest serial numbers don't normally enter circulation as they're instead handed to the King, prime minister, chancellor, whomever designed the note and the Bank of England's chief cashier.

The £50 note which was sold for £14,000 had the serial number AJ 01 000003, the pair that went for £5,800 each had the numbers AJ 01 000004 and AJ 01 000005.

Meanwhile, the note that sold for £7,500 was AJ 01 000007.

This new King Charles £50 isn't the most valuable of the new polymer notes sold at auction, as a £10 note with the serial number HB 01 000002 sold for £17,000.

If you're hoping to suddenly find one of these notes in your wallet then I have some bad news, the people who bought this currency probably aren't planning on spending it and would rather keep it as a collector's item.

Advert

Still, it never hurts to check does it?

Featured Image Credit: DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images/Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Image

Topics: Money, UK News, King Charles III

Joe Harker
Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

X

@MrJoeHarker

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

6 mins ago
24 mins ago
2 hours ago
16 hours ago
  • 6 mins ago

    Body language expert shares major change from first greeting to mid-talk between Trump and Putin

    The first handshake appeared to be friendlier than the second

    News
  • 24 mins ago

    Vladimir Putin spoke English in rare moment during plea for help

    The Russian leader can speak a decent level of English

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Donald Trump releases full ‘private’ letter Melania wrote to Putin containing urgent plea

    She asked him to think of the children

    News
  • 16 hours ago

    Prisoner jailed for murder he didn't commit reveals chilling thing inmates saw whenever there was an execution

    It's no surprise that death row is an unsettling place to be

    News
  • King Charles addresses nation in historic six minute speech
  • Full list of celebrities who will be awarded by King Charles in New Year Honours list
  • King Charles will break royal protocol with this year’s Christmas speech
  • Reason why King Charles broke Christmas speech royal protocol for the first time in 14 years