Rare 1855 banknote could sell for £20k at auction

The £100 note had to be cut in two and posted as separate pieces for security reasons

A rare £100 bank note from 1855 so valuable it had to be cut in half and transported in two separate pieces is to be sold at auction.

The note, which was issued by the Liverpool branch of the Bank of England 169 years ago is expected to raise about £20,000.

Its value was the equivalent of about £15,000 in today's money on the date it was issued.

Andrew Pattison, of auctioneers Noonans, said: "£100 was so much money that the two halves of the note were posted separately for security, and then put back together later on so that the note could still be used."

A £10 note signed by chief cashier Frank May is expected to fetch around £20,000

Also going under the hammer at the London auction house is a Liverpool-issued £10 note signed by chief cashier Frank May in 1882.

May was forced out of his post in disgrace after it became apparent he had made a number of irregular loans and overdrafts to clients, and had also got himself into financial trouble on the stock market.

The May-signed £10 note is expected to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000.

The Bank of England's Liverpool branch was in the city's Castle Street.

There are plans to turn the empty building into an Ivy restaurant.