Hello: I found 4 Bank of England Notes in my late father stuff. I have one 20 pound note, two ten pound, and one five pound note. Are they worth anything? DT
Some information I received about a white £5 banknote, about a year ago, was to hold it up to the light to ensure that the watermark was clearly visible. I have one with the watermark and is genuine, whilst the other does not, thus making it a fake.
Even with watermarks, there are fakes, as they were highly forged during World War II, in so much that the Bank of England believed the fakes were the real ones.
My wife bought me my genuine one from a dealer who tried to get one with my actual birth date, but no luck was forthcoming.
It is a real shame the the banknote in the photograph is badly creased as this will detract from its value.
I have seen genuine banknotes for sell from under a £100 to over £500. Hope they are not all creased. They would still look good in any collection, as I love both of mine, real and not real.
The prefix on your note, pictured, is outside the known printing range of the WW2 German forgeries for £10 notes (K102-K132). This suggests that your note is a genuine example. Assuming no tears, pinholes, or writing or any other damage on the note it would be worth around £200, ballpark.
Have a look here for some background info on the WW2 forgeries, and how to distinguish them from genuine notes:
If you post pictures of the other notes, I can look them up in one of the current catalogues for value.
A decent £20 note would be worth quite a lot more than a £10!
Be sure to not iron, flatten or press the notes - these are nice original examples you have, and more collectible as such. You could put them in a book for safe keeping.
Hello: I found 4 Bank of England Notes in my late father stuff. I have one 20 pound note, two ten pound, and one five pound note. Are they worth anything? DT
They're most definitely worth something! I've never actually owned a white BoE note, I'd love to own a 20, a 10, and a 5!
I was waiting for Hibernia to weigh in on this as he knows his UK stuff. In North America, we called our older large size formatted notes “horse blankets” but these should/could be called “placemats” as they're truly colossal in their dimensions. Thus, you rarely encounter them in UNC b/c they're usually folded (as the £10 pictured) The higher denominations are always pricey so the £20 will be even more.
Your £10 should fetch a good price as its crisp VF+ which I have rarely seen. Hope your other notes are in good shape too.
Pictures please (& let us know how you make out finding what you have)!
Hello: I found 4 Bank of England Notes in my late father stuff. I have one 20 pound note, two ten pound, and one five pound note. Are they worth anything? DT
And always avoid touching your notes with your bare hands, if you can.
