Kristian Rouz – After the Bank of England (BoE) introduced the new five pound note, or a ‘fiver’, as it is commonly referred to, on 13 September, certain notes have turned out to be limited-edition collector’s items, worth several hundred pounds.
However, certain notes possess special qualities, and have already become an object of particular public interest, with people ready to pay as much as £200 to get ahold of them.
These ‘special characteristics’ are quite trivial: if your new fiver features the first press serial number (i.e. starting with AA01) or the end of the press serial number, you can sell it at a hefty premium. Another example is, if you have in your possession a set of notes that feature sequential serial numbers: that’s you winning lottery ticket, too.
Some people have paid as much as £227, £215, £196 and £161 for these new fivers.
"I did not get them on September 13th, the first day, but it was just by sheer chance that I went to the bank the next day and they had just got them in," Alan Scrase, a collector, told the BBC. "You just go in your bank and ask for them. I got a few."
"I am surprised how much they have gone for," he confessed, having sold a set of three fivers for £456.
Very soon, the financial services company Loans at Home discovered the hype surrounding the new fiver had started to monetize as a significant amount of people are willing to keep this tiny moment of the nation’s economic history as memorabilia.
"There is always some excitement over new issues like this, truly it should be just over the low serial numbers (not consecutive ones) but these are often carefully released by the bank," Seth Freeman of AH Baldwin and Sons said. "People get overly excited on platforms like Ebay and the prices are not justified."
The new polymer £10 notes, featuring Jane Austen, and £20 notes, featuring JMW Turner, will be released into circulation in summer 2017, and 2020, respectively. The new fiver, meanwhile, is harder to counterfeit. However, although it is indeed more durable, it can tear easily if cut slightly with a sharp object, meaning some caution would still be required. Critics also pointed out the new fivers could stick together, making them harder to count.
The Bank of England, meanwhile, is giving out the new notes through its bank note exchange desk in London. That said, some people were noticed exchanging substantial sums of money, such as £500 or £1,000 into the new fivers, hoping at least a couple of their new notes happen to be collectors’ items.
The ‘Fivermania’ has also produced humanitarian consequences: people were seen donating their new fivers with #FirstFiver and #FiverGiver hashtags on social media. There are even polls and challenges encouraging Englishmen and Welshmen to donate. The heart-warming initiative is expected to boost mainly local charities, providing assistance to the homeless and people in need of food and clothing.
‘New fiver, the real survivor’ is not, however, absolutely damage-prone.
"They're not completely indestructible," Victoria Cleland, the chief cashier of the Bank of England said, "so we're not encouraging people to set fire to them."
