A £5 word with lowest serial quantity EVER to be auctioned on Thursday

There is a unique opportunity for a buyer to get their hands on one of the lowest serial numbered bank notes ever offered to the public in the coming weeks, This is Money can reveal.

New £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes have been rolled out across the nation, first entering circulation last week. 

They have captured the imagination of collectors and already a flurry of people have rushed to sell the new bank notes on Ebay. 

Last week, This is Money exclusively revealed the prefixes of the first new notes, which are are CA01 for £5 notes, HB01 for £10 notes, EH01 for £20 notes and AJ01 for £50 notes.

A new £5 note with the serial number CA01 00003 will be available to purchase at a charity auction held by Spink & Son on 13 June 

The most valuable £5 notes are those featuring low serial numbers beginning with CA01, which collectors and members of the public alike are on the hunt for.

When the notes launched last Wednesday, auctioneers Spink & Son revealed to This is Money that a £5 note featuring an ‘unprecedentedly low’ serial number would be available to purchase at the auction.

Today, This is Money can confirm that a King Charles £5 note with the serial number CA01 000003 is up for auction in Lot 1 at a charity auction to be held by Spink & Son on Thursday 13 June.

Spink & Son confirmed that this is the lowest serial number of a new £5 note available to the public. 

Bidders can attend the event in person, while people across the world can bid online.  

The first two £5 notes, with serial number CA01 000001 is in the hands of King Charles III and This is Money understands that CA01 000002 belongs to Queen Camilla.

Buyers therefore can get their hands on note number three – the lowest serial number it has ever auctioned at an auction of this kind for new bank notes.

The £5 note CA01 000003 has an estimate of £3,000 to £5,000. 

But experts think it will far surpass this. 

Simon Narbeth, of bank note seller Colin Narbeth & Son said: ‘Without a doubt this note will sell for at least £13,000, if not more. 

‘This is the lowest serial number for a £5 note to be auctioned since a £5 note presented to former Prime Minister Harold McMillan in 1967 was auctioned in 2021, which also had the serial number 01 000003. 

‘That note sold for £22,000 at auction.’ 

To put the 03 note into context, a charity auction in 2016 for the new fiver started with AA01 000017 as the lowest note – and that sold for £4,150. 

Furthermore, the Bank of England has more charity auctions in the calendar – including a £10 note one on 27 June.

This auction is ‘even more exciting’ according to Mr Narbeth, as there is an even lower serial numbered note available – HB01 000002. 

It means the buyer would own the second note, with number one being in the hands of the King.  

He adds: ‘I expect it to fetch at least £20,000.’

A spokesman from Spink & Son said: This is the lowest serial number we have auctioned at an auction of this kind. 

‘Previously we have auctioned a bank note with a serial number of 01 000005.’ 

The CA01 000003 £5 note is one of 152 £5 notes to be auctioned on Thursday, with serial numbers ranging from CA01 000003 to CA01 002024.

Estimates for the full range of £5 notes for sale at the auction span between £150 to £5,000 depending on the serial number.