Thousands of new King Charles bank notes have entered circulation today.
Visitors to 14 post offices dotted around the country and the exchange counter at the Bank of England can be the first to get their hands on the new-look currency.
The new £5, £10, £20 and £50 polymer notes are the first to be issued with the King’s portrait.
Simon Narbeth, of banknote specialists Colin Narbeth & Son, said that only the first lot of notes will be valuable and have the potential to become collectors’ items.
Every banknote features its own unique serial number and a four-digit prefix, and with each prefix 999,000 notes are printed from 000001 to 999000.
“The only ones to look out for are the £5 CA01, £10 HB01, £20 EH01 and £50 AJ01, but it’s very difficult to say what these will be worth,” Mr Narbeth said.
“You normally get stupid people buying them on eBay for ridiculous amounts of money. If you look back to the new Churchill £5 AA 01 note in 2016, they sold for £800 each but I could sell you those now for £49.50.
“So be warned, don’t buy them on eBay for daft money when they appear on there.”
When that will be however is unknown as Mr Narbeth doubts that any of the first million serial numbers have been distributed.
“Notes aren’t circulated in numerical order,” he said. “The Bank’s policy is not to issue first million editions from its head office, so I doubt very much they’ll distribute them to Post Office branches.
“The post offices may have some of the first million or they might not, we just don’t know.”
The 14 post offices with new King Charles notes
- Fawcett Street, Sunderland
- Slindon Street, Portsmouth
- Pinfold Street, Birmingham
- Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester
- London Wall, City of London
- Broadway, London
- Station Road, Great Massingham
- Market Place, Tetbury
- High Street, Minchinhampton
- Peascod Street, Windsor
- White Kennett Street, London
- Park Street, Woodstock
- The Buttermarket, Poundbury
The King has become only the second monarch to have their image on a bank note. His late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, became the first in 1960, with her picture replacing that of Britannia on notes to bring them in line with coins.
At the request of the Royal household, existing notes featuring the Queen will remain in circulation to minimise the environmental and financial impact of the change of monarch.
The reverse-side characters remain unchanged from previous editions – with Winston Churchill on the £5, Jane Austen on the £10, JMW Turner on the £20 and Alan Turing on the £50.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said: “We know that cash is important for many people, and we are committed to providing banknotes for as long as the public demand them.
“Bringing these new notes into circulation is a demonstration of that commitment.”
Members of the public can exchange their old banknotes at the Bank for the next five days. A maximum of £300 per person can be exchanged.
King Charles was presented with the very first editions of the new notes in April, but the next of the notes in this first lot – the most sought-after notes available – are up for grabs at auction next week.
The new £20 note numbered EH01 000002 – second only to the one given to the King – is among the lots at four upcoming charity auctions hosted by Spink & Son.
Other ultra-low serial numbers will also be going under the hammer, including the second edition of the new £50.
Arnas Savickas, head of banknotes at the London-based auction house, believes the rarest lots will fetch at least £10,000.
As for the rare numbers on banknotes in general, Mr Savickas said it is always worth checking the numbers whenever you get a note.
“These are some very sought-after numbers – 000088 is a very expensive note because the Chinese view eight as bringing luck and richness, so there is lots of interest from Asia for the ‘8’ numbers,” he said.
“Anything with one zero in the front is great as people collect them, it can be zero with anything coming after it.
“Numbers like 999 and 1111 are nice as people like solid numbers. Or if you have 12121 or 21212 that’s cool, or anything that splits in the middle like 444888 is good as collectors like sequences with a theme that you can relate to.”
Have you found a rate banknote or coin? Email joe.wright@telegraph.co.uk
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