How to spot a ‘rare’ £10 note and the serial numbers that could be worth hundreds

IF you come across a rare £10 in your purse, you might be able to bag big money.

Serial numbers are the key to knowing if your tenner is unique or not.

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These can be found on the top left of the note on the side with the Monarch’s face.

This is just under the £10 value in the corner of the note.

The most sought after notes are those with an AA serial number.

One of the £10 notes was bought for £3,600 after the seller noticed it had a specific serial number relating to the year Jane Austen was born.

What are the rare and valuable £10 notes?

Whether your Jane Austen £10 note is worth thousands depends as collectors are only after certain ones.

If you come across a £10 note with an AA serial number, you might just be able to bag some big money.

And £5 notes with these numbers could also be valuable. 

Interestingly, as the £10 note is slightly larger, there are 54 notes per printing sheet compared to 60 with the £5 note. This means there are millions of AA combinations that could potentially crop up.

How can you tell if your tenner could make you thousands?

When the Bank of England launched its £10 note featuring Jane Austen in 2017, changechecker.com revealed its predictions for the notes that everyone would be keeping an eye out for. 

Serial numbers for each note are key – you can find these numbers on the top left of the face with the Queen’s image. 

This is just under the £10 value in the corner of the note. 

ChangeChecker.com said that the serial numbers you need to look out for are: 

• The serial numbers 16 121775 and 18 071817 as they represent the author’s date of birth and death.
• The serial number 17 751817 as it’s her birth and death combined
• The serial number 28 011813 as it’s the date when her most celebrated novel, Pride and Prejudice, was first published.

Other serial numbers might be popular with collectors. 

James Bond 007 notes and AK47 notes are sought after, as well as notes with consecutive numbers, eg, AA12345. 

Some collectors will part with serious cash for the right note. 

Which notes will never enter circulation?

Every time the Bank of England issues a new note, it donates an important low serial number to those who were involved in its development. 

When the £5 note was launched, the Churchill War Rooms received a note with the serial number AA01 001945, the year that World War Two ended.

And the Queen was given a note with the serial number AA01 000001- the very first of its kind. 

How can you make money from your rare note?

You could make thousands of pounds if you find a rare note.

The £5 note with the lowest serial number available to the public – AA01000017 – sold for £4,150 at auction in October in 2016.

Since then some plastic fivers have sold for thousands of pounds on eBay.

To check if your notes are worth anything on eBay, tick “completed and sold items” and filter by the highest value.

It’ll give you an idea of what people are willing to spend on notes, but keep in mind that yours is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.