An exceptionally rare Bank of England £5 note that was issued in Leeds sold for a hammer price of £32,000 – more than double its pre-sale estimate of £12,000-£16,000 - in a sale of British and Irish Banknotes at Noonans on Thursday, October 12, 2023. Dated July 12, 1900, it was signed by Horace G. Bowen who was Chief Cashier at the Bank of England from 1893 to 1902 [lot 120].

After the sale, Andrew Pattison, Head of Banknote Department at Noonans commented: “Bidding was extremely fierce, with the notes going to two different buyers, both of whom are advanced collectors of English banknotes. There were multiple bidders on each note right to the top, which just shows that interest in rare and unique collectable banknotes is extremely strong.”

The sale included several rare Bank of England notes. Also from Leeds is a very rare £5 note signed by Matthew Marshall who was Chief Cashier of the Bank of England between 1835 and 1864 and is dated 28 July 1862. This sold for a hammer price of £20,000 against an estimate of £10,000-£15,000 [lot 118].

Elsewhere, an excessively rare £50 note also signed by Matthew Marshall dated 6 October 1845 realised a hammer price of £26,000. This high denomination note had been estimated at £15,000-20,000 [lot 119].

"Banknote collecting is a dynamic and relatively new field and our specialist department has been at the forefront of its expansion for over 25 years. Our superbly researched and illustrated online and printed catalogues set the gold standard for banknote auctions globally.

Our position as a world-leading banknote auctioneer is demonstrated by our sale of the £5 serial number 3, the single finest post war Bank of England note, and our experts discovery and subsequent auction of the 1860 $5, the earliest known fully issued Hong Kong banknote. As a team, the department’s highly respected specialists have a wealth of experience — knowledge they’re more than happy to share with our international community of banknote sellers and buyers." - Noonans

In 1991, its first year of trading, the company held three medal auctions and sold 1,200 lots for a total hammer price of £553,000, however 30 years later, Noonans is established as the premier medal auctioneer worldwide. Two years later, in 1993, it opened a coin department which also auctions commemorative medals and tokens. In 2015 Noonans (then Dix Noonan Webb) added jewellery to its sales calendar as well as setting up a stand alone banknotes department and expanding into premises next door. In 2022, they achieved a total hammer price of £16,437,725 and the total number of lots sold across all departments was 24,044. To date the company has sold in excess of 400,000 lots totalling over £235 million.