King Charles’ £20 note with rare serial number sells for TWELVE times its value – do you have fortune in your wallet?

KING Charles’ £20 note featuring a unique serial number has sold more than 12 times its original value.

One lucky Brit sold the King’s new uncirculated £20 note for a whopping £245 after 11 bidders desperately tried to get their hands on the rare note.

EPA

Every banknote has a unique serial number to identify and date it[/caption]

Ebay

It sold for more than 12 times its original value[/caption]

The new banknotes with His Majesty’s portrait entered into circulation last week.

However, some notes are worth more than others with owners making £100s from selling them.

Every banknote has a unique serial number to identify and date it with a four-digit prefix.

For each prefix, there are 999,000 notes printed and put into circulation – from 000001 to 999000.

In April, The Bank of England (BoE) revealed what the lowest serial numbers are on the new King Charles notes for the four different amounts. These are:

• £5: CA 01 000001 
• £10: HB 01 000001
• £20: EH 01 000001
• £50: AJ 01 000001

However, no one will be able to own the notes with the above serial numbers.

Arnas Savickas, head of banknotes at auctioneers Spink and Son, said the most sought-after serial numbers for the four different notes will start from:

• £5: CA 01 000003
• £10: HB 01 000002
• £20: EH 01 000002
• £50: AJ 01 000003

If you have one of these serial numbers in your wallet it could potentially earn you thousands of pounds.

Other valuable serial numbers

Some Jane Austen £5 notes, which came out in 2017, can fetch decent sums, with plenty of collectors keen on them.

Serial numbers 16 121775 and 18 071817 are particularly valuable because they are the author’s birth and death dates.

Also, the £20 notes released in 2020 featuring artist JMW Turner, so serial numbers with his birth date – 1775 – can sell for big amounts.

If you find one starting with an A that also includes his birth date that should be worth even more.

For example, one special serial number to keep an eye out for is 1775 1851 which combines the painter’s birth and death date.

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.

AK47 notes have been listed for as much as £160,000 but most have been selling for about £100.

How to sell a rare banknote or coin

It’s not just rare banknotes that can sell for plenty of cash, but coins as well.

There are three ways you can sell either of the legal tender – on eBay, Facebook, or in an auction.

If you’re selling on Facebook, there are risks attached.

Sellers have previously been targeted by scammers saying they want to buy a rare coin and asking for money upfront for a courier to pick it up.

But it’s a ruse to get money out of you and the courier is never sent.

To avoid this happening, it’s always best to meet a Facebook seller in person when buying or selling anything.

Ensure it’s a public meeting spot that’s in a well-lit area and if you can, avoid using payment links.

Most sellers prefer to deal with cash directly when meeting to ensure it’s legitimate.

The safest way to sell a rare coin is more than likely at auction. You can organise this with The Royal Mint’s Collectors Service.

It has a team of experts who can help you authenticate and value your coin.

You can get in touch via email and a member of the valuation team will get back to you.

You will be charged for the service though – the cost varies depending on the size of your collection.

You can also sell rare coins on eBay.

Always bear in mind when selling any rare coin, you will only get what the seller is willing to pay for it.

It comes after the Royal Mint revealed that a rare 2p coin could sell for more than £1,000.

And a coin expert has given an insight into a unique detail of a 50p coin that makes it worth up to £2,000.