NEW plastic £20 notes have launched into circulation today – and rare ones could be worth hundreds of pounds.
The polymer notes, featuring British painter JMW Turner, will start appearing in ATMs and tills throughout the country from today.
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Half of all ATMs across the UK are expected to be dispensing the new notes two weeks from now, according to the Bank of England.
You can also get one in exchange for cash only at the Bank of England’s counter at Threadneedle Street in London from 9am.
But it warns to expect a waiting time of about two hours, and adds that it cannot guarantee any new £20 notes dished out will have a low serial number, sequential number or be in pristine condition.
The new purple note features Turner’s self-portrait and signature, as well as being the first note to include the signature of Sarah John, the Bank’s current chief cashier.
What will the new £20 note look like?
HERE are the key features of the new polymer £20 note:
- A large see-through window with a blue and gold foil on the front depicting Margate lighthouse and Turner Contemporary. The foil is silver on the back. The shape of the large window is based on the shape of the fountains in Trafalgar Square.
- A smaller see-through window in the bottom corner of the note, inspired by Tintern Abbey.
- JMW Turner’s self-portrait, painted c. 1799 and currently on display in Tate Britain.
- One of Turner’s most eminent paintings The Fighting Temeraire; a tribute to the ship HMS Temeraire which played a role in Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The painting
is currently on display in the National Gallery and was voted the nation’s favourite painting in a 2005 poll run by BBC Radio 4. - A metallic hologram which changes between the word ‘Twenty’ and ‘Pounds’ when the note is tilted.
- The Queen’s portrait in the see-through window with “£20 Bank of England” printed twice around the edge.
- A silver foil patch with a 3D image of the coronation crown.
- A purple foil patch containing the letter “T” and based on the staircase at Tate Britain.
- A quote “Light is therefore colour” from an 1818 lecture by Turner referring to the innovative use of light, shade, colour and tone in his pictures.
- Turner’s signature
It also includes two see-through windows, a two colour foil in a bid to make it more difficult to counterfeit, and 14 “hidden Easter eggs”.
The note joins the polymer Winston Churchill £5 and the Jane Austen £10. A new polymer £50 featuring Alan Turing will be issued next year.
Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, said: “Turner’s art was transformative. I am delighted that the work of arguably the single most influential British artist of all time will now appear on another 2billion works of art – the new £20 notes that people can start using today.”
The old paper £20 notes, which launched in 2007 and feature economist Adam Smith, will be withdrawn from circulation but a date for this has yet to be announced – the Bank of England will give six months’ notice of this.
Could the new £20 be worth hundreds?
If you manage to get your hands on one of the new notes fairly quickly it’s worth checking the serial number on it.
That’s because banknotes with very early serial numbers are often sought after by collectors.
The first note AA01 000001 is given to the Queen, while the Bank of England tends to donate lots of the earliest notes to charities for auction.
A charity auction of low serial numbered polymer £20 notes will be held on April 8, 2020 at Spink & Son, although we don’t know yet which notes will feature.
Money raised will be donated to Alzheimer’s Research UK, Pancreatic Cancer UK and YoungMinds.
HOW TO CHECK IF YOUR NOTE COULD BE VALUABLE
SERIAL numbers are key when it comes to spotting a valuable note.
These can be found on the top left of the face with the Queen’s image, just under the £10 value in the corner.
Once you’ve found the number check for:
- Early serial numbers – AA01 is best, but anything with an A could be valuable
- Consecutive serial numbers – such as JT 1234567
- Significant serial numbers – such as the birth date or death date of the person featured on the note
- Popular serial numbers – such as 007 or AK47
But the Bank of England has confirmed that not all of the early £20 notes are being reserved and some of the rarest AA notes will be released into circulation.
AA notes are the most valuable, but anything with an A in it could be worth more than the value of the note itself.
An AA01 £5 note sold on eBay for over £60,000 in 2017 with others fetching hundreds of pounds online.
Notes with consecutive serial numbers can also catch a collector’s eye, particularly if the numbers are low.
If you can combine an early serial letter, with a consecutive number you could be onto a winner.
For instance if you get one with AA1234567 is likely to be popular.
Serial numbers with Turner’s birth year – 1775 – and death year – 1851 – could also go for more than their face value.
A note starting with JT could also be valuable, while notes featuring 007 for James Bond or AK47 tend to go down well too.
