Rare £500 Leeds banknote sells for £24k at auction
The £500 notes were only ever issued from Bank of England branches in Leeds, Liverpool and London
At a glance
The £500 note was issued by the Bank of England in Leeds in 1936
The note had been expected to fetch up to £22,000 at auction
Only three branches of the bank issued the note
The note is only the second of its kind known to exist
- Published
A rare £500 note from a branch of the Bank of England in Leeds has been sold at auction for £24,000.
The note, dated 1936, is only the second of its kind known to exist, and the first one to be put up for sale.
Auction house Noonans said the "extremely rare" note, which had been expected to fetch up to £22,000, was bought by a major collector of Bank of England notes.
The note bears the signature of Kenneth O Peppiatt, who was the bank's chief cashier at the time.
Andrew Pattison, from Noonans, said the item came from a "long-term collector" and described it as "fantastic".
The £500 notes were only ever issued at three branches of the Bank of England - in London, Liverpool and Leeds, Mr Pattison said.
"Of those available, Leeds branch, like this one, are the rarest," he added.
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, external, Twitter, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk, external.