Welcome to the banknote serials page.

Understanding the Chart:

This chart has been compiled from notes seen in circulation, and is designed to give you an idea of what is around, specifically scarcer notes and those likely to be of interest to collectors. The chart details notes by denomination and prefix, and their numbers. It is necessary to understand some basic rules regarding the printing on current notes so that you can interpret the information, and know what to look out for. Current notes are printed in sheets, with 45 to a sheet of £5 notes, 40 to a sheet of £10 and £20 notes, and 35 to a sheet of £50 notes. As an example, if printing prefix AA as a £20, the first sheet would have AA01 in one corner, down to AA40 in the opposite corner. In any normal print run, once a prefix is seen in that range, it follows that all numbers from that sheet will have been printed (i.e if AA01 exists, AA01 to AA40 will exist). All notes on this sheet would have the same serial number, and printing starts at 999000 and prints in reverse order down to 000001. In simple terms, this is so that the notes are in order once guillotined and collated. With such large quantities of notes being produced, it does not necessarily follow that all notes are printed in order, or even circulated in order.

I have listed only those prefix ranges deemed to be of interest, notably the first or last in a series, plus replacement serials. To understand replacement systems within modern banknote production please refer to English Paper Money by Vincent Duggleby - or ask me for help.

Many thanks to those who have supplied updates recently!

Latest serials seen (updated 14th July 2010) for standard runs are as follows...

Ten Pounds (Darwin) Lowther last prefix: CC80

Twenty Pounds (Elgar): Last prefix : EH40

Five Pounds (Elizabeth Fry): KK45

Ten Pounds (Charles Darwin): HD80

Twenty Pounds (Adam Smith): EB40

Fifty Pounds (John Houblon): R70

Is the Bank of England still using replacement serials?

As you know I log the latest prefixes seen here on my website. I have been aware for a while that there have not been any updates to the numbers seen for column sort and replacement notes. There are very few LL notes in circulation now, and few new ones recorded by me in over a year. As for Column Sort notes, EL on the £5 has hardly moved from its 506000 level I recorded ages ago. HL on the £10 was expected to be common but seems to have stopped at 956000 as seen when it first appeared, and AL on the £20 crept forward to 298300 (from 352000 a year ago), but has certainly not continued at the rate it was being issued. As the standard prefixes continue to advance, I can only assume that numbering of column sort notes no longer uses a different prefix, and replacement notes are no longer distinguishable from standard runs. Any comments from serial number watchers would be welcomed, send us an email with your views. Thanks.

The End of Replacement Serials?... An update...

Further to the above question, we now have an answer. As most of us have suspected for some time, the Bank (or rather the printers) has indeed done away with its system of replacing damaged notes with notes numbered separately and differently from the standard runs. Thanks to all those who took the time to reply and especially to Chris Stanley who forwarded an email he received back in Jan 2008 from the Bank of England, which stated "Until recently the 'LL' prefix was used on notes that acted as replacements for those that were spoiled in the production process. Recent improvements in production methods now mean that it is not necessary to number replacement notes in this way."  Whilst it doesn't explain what systems they now use, nor how they treat column sort notes, it is clear that no more LL or L prefix notes are likely to appear. I am keen to find out the last serial numbers used under the old systems, so as to ascertain numbers printed and scarcity. Any signtings of notes with serials lower than those mentioned below would be useful.

Mark.

PS: LL & EL replacements notes are still being given out at cashpoints (as at March 2010), but numbers are within the ranges recorded.

Info Request:

As well as trying to keep up to date with serial numbers on current notes, I am also keen to log some of the rarer notes in the English series. These include rare white notes (£10 plus, especially branch issues), and first issue Treasury one pounds, plus all early BoE notes (Pre 1902).

If you have any such notes in your collection, I would be delighted to know details, with scans where possible. Thanks again!