Brits have been urged to check their wallets for an extremely rare but valuable £5 that carries an unusual inscription. Four of the notes, which have been decorated with the image of a famous footballer, are still in circulation – and could be worth more than £50,000.
The notes in question were etched with the portrait of Harry Kane, captain of the England football team. This was done to mark his achievement as the top goal scorer of the 2018 World Cup.
A total of six of these notes were created by artist Graham Short, who previously made headlines for similar etchings of Jane Austen on some five pound notes. One of the Harry Kane notes was given to the footballer himself, while another was given to the FA.
But years down the line four of the notes remain yet undiscovered. Rare coin specialist, known as Coin Collector UK, encouraged people to keep an eye out for the cash.
In a video uploaded to social media platform TikTok, he explained: “Six £5 notes with Harry Kane on were released into circulation after he became the top goal scorer in the 2018 World Cup.
“The artist, Graham Short, carefully etched Kane’s portrait onto the clear part of each note with a needle and it took him six days to complete each one.
“One note was gifted to the FA, another to Kane himself. And the final four notes were spent across each country in the UK.”
He revealed where the notes were distributed. “They were originally spent in Edinburgh, Merthyr Tydfil, Meriden and Northern Ireland,” he said.
The serial numbers of the notes were:
- AC04487157
- AC04619245
- AC06244707
- AL52603019
- AM33305187
- BA26831255.
“Unusually” they are not a consecutive run. The Coin Collector added: “Each of the notes is insured up to £50,000 pounds.
“We can expect it to sell at auction for this as a minimum price. It may be worth even more.
“Nobody has claimed to own one of these extremely rare five pound notes and none have sold at auction, get checking because you might just have one.”
In 2017 it was reported that only one of the Jane Austen £5 notes engraved by Graham is still out there.