Banknotes featuring King Charles fetch ₹10 crore at auction, 11 times its face value

A series of auctions took place after new £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes featuring King Charles. The auctions saw banknotes originally worth £78,430 ( ₹84.3 lakh) generate over 11 times their face value for charity.

Although the King was given a complete set of the first-issued notes, many others with low serial numbers were auctioned. One of these, a £10 note, fetched £17,000 ( ₹18.2 lakh), the BBC reported.

The Bank of England urged the public to return outdated banknotes bearing Queen Elizabeth's image before new notes displaying King Charles III's image circulated. With this, King Charles became the second British monarch to appear on Bank of England notes.

Queen Elizabeth, Charles’ mother, had earlier featured on these notes since 1960. In Scotland, however, monarchs do not appear on banknotes.

The public had until June 30 to swap their old banknotes for new ones. From June 5 to June 30, individuals could exchange up to £300 worth of old notes. The only noticeable change in the new notes is that they now display King Charles III's portrait. There is no other change.

Banknotes featuring Queen Elizabeth II are still usable and will remain in circulation to make the transition smoother. The new notes, created to replace old and worn-out ones, were previewed by King Charles at Buckingham Palace before receiving approval from the Bank of England. The king was shown notes of lower denominations.

Auction fetches ₹10 crore

In the auction, a set of 40 connected £50 notes with a total value of £2,000 was sold for £26,000 ( ₹28 lakh), setting a new record. The auction, organised by Spink in London, generated £914,127 (nearly ₹10 crore) overall, the publication added.

Collectors are highly interested in banknotes with serial numbers close to 00001, driving up their value. When these notes were released in June, many collectors visited Post Office branches and queued outside the Bank of England in London to acquire them.