Extremely rare £5 note that dates back to 123 years ago sells for 6,400 times its original value

An ‘extremely rare’ £5 note has been sold for 6,400 times its original value after a buyer shelled out a whopping £32,000 for the pricey paper currency. The sought-after note, which is dated July 12, 1900, was originally signed by Horace G. Bowen, the chief cashier at the Bank of England from 1893 to 1902.

It was first issued at the bank’s Leeds branch and remains just one of a few from this era that are still held in private hands. The old money was expected to fetch around £16,000 when it went up for auction earlier today (Oct 12) at Noonans Auctioneers in Mayfair, London.

But remarkably, its mystery seller bagged twice this initial estimate when the hammer finally fell earlier this morning. Andrew Pattison, head of the banknote department at Noonans, previously said the rare currency was extremely desirable.

He said: “This is a great note. Very few Bowen notes are in private hands, especially from this exceptionally rare Leeds branch. The York hand stamp shows part of the journey of the note, issued in Leeds and paid into a bank at some point in York.”

Andrew said the note was previously bought by a collector ten years ago after it was put up for sale by British businessman and philanthropist Sir David Kirch.

And he thought it might reach higher than its £12,000-£16,000 estimate following the sale of another extremely rare note that went for £24,000 earlier this year. Andrew said: “This note was sold by Sir David Kirch as part of his collection a decade ago when it was sold to the current owner, who is a major collector of notes from all over the United Kingdom. This is not the first Leeds note that Noonans has sold. An extremely rare £500 note dated 1936 was sold for a hammer price of £24,000 in March of this year.”

During the auction today, a rare £5 note dated July 28, 1862, also beat its £15,000 top estimate after it sold for £20,000. It was signed by Matthew Marshall, who was chief cashier of the Bank of England between 1835 and 1864. While another rare £50 note, also signed by Matthew Marshall and dated October 6 1845, sold for £26,000 after originally being valued between £15,000 and £20,000.

Andrew added: "Bidding was extremely fierce but the notes went to two different buyers, both of whom are advanced collectors of English banknotes. There were multiple bidders on each note right to the top, which just shows that interest in rare and unique collectable banknotes is extremely strong.”