£22 000 for a 1957 fiver at DIX NOONAN auction house
- June 01, 2021
- by
- Pierre
A £5 banknote which was originally presented to former prime minister Harold Macmillan in 1957 was sold for £22,000 at DIX NOONAN auction. The note, in a blue leather presentation wallet, has a very low serial number: A01 000003, that is to say the third printed banknote of this kind.
£22,000 was the upper limit of expert valuation. Including buyer’s premium, the total invoiced amount was £27,280.
Thomasina Smith, head of numismatics (associate director) at Dix Noonan Webb, said: “This important note is the lowest serial number note available to commerce and arguably the finest post-war Bank of England note in the public domain. Serial numbers one and two are held in the Royal Collection, having been presented to the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh.”
She added: “This spectacular and timeless design, known by many collectors as either the lion and key fiver or the Britannia fiver, was the first significant change of design for the £5 note since the introduction of the denomination in the late 1700s.”
Sources: DIX NOONAN and NUMISMAG
