Bank of England turns £78,000 into £900,000 in charity auctions

King Charles banknotes go for 11 times face value

Banknotes with a face value of £78,430 have raised more than 11 times that amount for charity following a series of auctions.

New £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes featuring King Charles III entered circulation in June.

He received a full set of the first issues – each with a serial number ending 000001 – but hundreds of other low serial numbered banknotes went under the hammer.

One single £10 note with the serial number HB01 000002 sold for £17,000 during bidding.

During another lot, a sheet of 40 connected £50 notes – with a face value of £2,000 – sold for £26,000. That was a record for any Bank of England auction.

The four sales run by auctioneers Spink in London raised £914,127 in total.

Collectors seek banknotes which come as close to the 000001 serial number as possible, hence the large amounts raised.

When the notes entered circulation in June, the Post Office reported collectors visiting branches which had stocks of the notes during the first day. There was also an early queue outside the Bank of England in London.

Sarah John, the Bank’s chief cashier – whose signature is on the notes – said she was “thrilled” that such such a “remarkable” amount was raised.

The proceeds will be shared equally between 10 charities chosen by the Bank:

Childhood Trust
The Trussell Trust
Shout
Carers UK
Demelza
WWF-UK
The Brain Tumour Charity
London’s Air Ambulance Charity
Child Bereavement UK
The Samaritans

It is the first time the monarch has changed on Bank of England notes, because Queen Elizabeth II was the first to routinely appear on Bank of England banknotes from 1960. The monarch does not feature on banknotes in Scotland.

Although the use of notes and coins is declining, the number of people mainly using cash for day-to-day spending hit a four-year high during the cost of living crisis, according to banking trade body UK Finance.

Post offices also reported handling a record amount of cash in July, with transactions totalling £3.77bn.

And HSBC has promised it will not announce any new closures of its bank branches until at least 2026.