How spot a 'rare' £50 note and the serial numbers that could be worth hundreds

A NEW plastic £50 note featuring the infamous WWII code-breaker Alan Turing on it has been launched into circulation today.

But a few of these new notes could be worth far more than their face value – and could be sold for thousands of pounds on eBay.

This is because notes with rare or early serial numbers on them can be extremely valuable.

So when you next go to the cash point, here’s how to spot if the £50 note your machine spits out could be worth something.

Early serial numbers

Banknotes that have very early serial numbers are often sought after by collectors.

This is because not many of them tend to make it into circulation.

When the Bank of England issues a new note it donates those with significant numbers to the people and institutions involved in the development.

For example, the first note AA01 000001 is given to the Queen. The bank also tends to donate lots of the earliest notes to charities for auction.

AA notes are the most valuable, but anything with an A in it could be worth more than the value of the note itself.

For example, we’ve recently seen AA £50 notes on eBay go for £78. 

But other notes with early serial numbers have gone for much higher.

Back in 2017, an AA01 £5 note sold on eBay for over £60,000.

But we haven’t seen any notes sold for as high as this in more recent times.

However, we did spot this old £20 note with a rare serial number on it go for £136 last month.

Consecutive serial numbers

Notes with consecutive serial numbers 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 have a valuable note in your hands.

For instance if you get one with AA1234567, you’re likely to be onto a winner.

How to check if your note could be valuable

SERIAL numbers are key when it comes to spotting a valuable note.

These can be found on the top left of the face with the Queen's image, just under the £10 value in the corner.

Once you've found the number check for:

  • Early serial numbers – AA01 is best, but anything with an A could be valuable
  • Consecutive serial numbers – such as JT 1234567
  • Significant serial numbers – such as the birth date or death date of the person featured on the note
  • Popular serial numbers – such as 007 or AK47

To make a profit, people usually try and sell these notes on eBay or Facebook.

For example, we spotted that one seller sold four £20 notes with consecutive AA01 serial numbers on them for £185 on eBay earlier this month.

Special meanings in serial numbers

Collectors will hunt for specific serial numbers which have special meanings to them.

For example, when the Jane Austen £5 notes came out in 2017, there was lots of interest in numbers that were linked to her life.

Brits hunted for the serial numbers 16 121775 and 18 071817 because they are the author's birth and death dates.

So for the new £50 note, you might want to keep an eye out for serial numbers containing Alan Turing’s birthday and death date.

This would be 23 061912 for the day he was born, and 07 061954 for the day he died.

How to sell a note on eBay

IF you think you’ve found a valuable new £50 note, here’s what to do.

IF YOU think you've found a valuable tenner, here's what to do.

You can either sell the note at auction or on eBay. Try speaking to a note specialist, like Spink & Son about getting it valued.

If you want to sell it on eBay, then remember to set a minimum price for the note – otherwise it could sell for LESS than a tenner.

Even if your note “sells” on eBay for a high price there’s no guarantee that the buyer will cough up.

In its terms and conditions, the auction website states that bidders enter a “legally binding contract to purchase an item”, but there’s no way to
enforce this rule in reality.

The most eBay can do is add a note to their account about the unpaid item or remove their ability to bid and buy.

This is because in order to sign up to the website users do not need to put in valid bank or PayPal details before making a bid.

If a bidder refuses to pay, then the only option for sellers is to give “second chance offers” to other bidders or relist the item.

For items of a high value eBay recommends that sellers put a limit on their listing to approve bidders.

It means bidders must email you before placing a bid but NOT that they must pay out the cash if they win

There are also sets of serial numbers that always prove popular regardless of who is on the note, for instance 007 for James Bond or AK47.

We spotted this AK47 £5 note was sold last month for £16 on eBay.

Error notes

Notes with mistakes on them tend to be among the most valuable and sought after because of their extremely limited numbers.

If you find an error on your new £50, or it doesn’t look like it’s supposed to, then you could have a valuable note in your hands.

Experts valued one Brit’s collection of 30 faulty £5, £10 and £20 notes at £6,000 last year.

The notes contained smudges and even the Queen’s head missing.

Here's what you need to know about the new £50 note with Alan Turing on it, including its release date and who’s on it.

When does the old £50 pound note expire? We explain.

The number of people paying by cash has fallen sharply during the coronavirus pandemic after several stores encouraged contactless payments instead.

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