New £20 note released this week – how to tell if yours is a ‘rare’ one

On Thursday, the Bank of England is releasing the new, polymer, £20 note into general circulation- and that means a few lucky Brits have the chance to make an awful lot of money.

With each of the recent notes released, collectors have been clamouring for rare or early serial numbers – and this time looks like it will be no different.

The very lowest serial number notes are given to the Queen, while the Bank of England will also auction some of the rarer notes for charity.

But, excitingly, the Bank of England told to Mirror Money that not all of them are being reserved and a slew of rare AA serial numbers will be entering general circulation too.

And if you find one you might well discover it's worth an awful lot more than £20.

The notes to look out for

• 
  When the new plastic £20 note launches as 2billion prepare to enter circulation

• 
  14 hidden features on the new £20 note that is getting released next week

When the new plastic £5 came out, people rushed to get their hands on them to see if they had one of the coveted AA 01 serial numbers.

People lucky enough to find them were then able to sell them on eBay and Facebook Marketplace for hundreds and hundreds of pounds.

Others sold sets of notes with consecutive, low, serial numbers for hundreds.

With the new £10, things were a little calmer.

The first reason for this was that many of the AA 01s went to a charity auction, the second was that there was a little less excitement about the Bank of England's second plastic note – compared to its first.

• 
  First look at the new plastic £20 and when you can get your hands on one

But that didn't mean there weren't still people willing to pay far more than £10 to get one.

Almost as soon as they were launched, AH serial numbers were selling for £30 online, while an AH 17 75 serial number sold for an incredible £3,600.

Why did it sell for so much? Simple – it combined the very low AH prefix with the year Jane Austen – who features on the back of the note – was born.

If history repeats – and there's no reason to suspect it won't – that means a new £20 with a serial number that starts with an "A" and includes 1775 (the year Turner was born in) should be a winner.

And if you manage to find a JT 1775 1851 you've hit the jackpot – with the note combining the painter's initials, his year of birth and his year of death.

The better news is the Bank of England told Mirror Money that some AA notes would definitely be entering circulation – giving people another chance to find a £20 worth more than £20.

And they could pop up anywhere, with the Bank itself admitting it has no idea where they will be distributed as it simply doesn't store its notes by serial number.

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