Welcome to the banknote serials page.

Current Banknote News and Info...

The POLYMER Bank of England "plastic" £20, released 20th February 2020, with serials starting at prefix AA01 (printed 45 per sheet). Featuring artist Turner on the reverse, they are the first notes issued to carry the signature of the new Chief Cashier Sarah John. More than TWO BILLION notes will been printed to replace the current notes which will phased out over the nest year. Collectors World expects to stock these notes in Uncirculated, and will endeavour to locate low number first serials for customers if requested. Prefixes seen so far AA, through CA, (ongoing).

The last paper £20 serial is understood to be LA40.

The POLYMER Bank of England "plastic" £10, released 14th September 2017, with serials starting at prefix AA01 (printed 54 per sheet). At a slightly reduced size this note features authoress Jane Austen, released to coincide with the 200th anniversary of her death, and carries the cashiers signature of Victoria Cleland. More than ONE BILLION notes have been printed so far to replace the current notes which will phased out by in 2018. Collectors World expects to stock these notes in Uncirculated, and will endeavour to locate low number first serials for customers if requested. Prefixes seen so far AA to AM, BA to BM, CA to EA (ongoing). Last Cleland prefix DK54, First Sarah John prefix DJ01 (note overlaps in DJ & DK).

The last paper £10 serial is understood to be ME40.

The POLYMER Bank of England "plastic" £5 serial numbers starts at prefix AA01 (printed 60 per sheet - 10x6). At a slightly reduced size this colourful note featuring Sir Winston Churchill is the first £5 with the cashiers signature of Victoria Cleland. The queen's portrait remains unchanged, disappointing some collectors. Collectors World has available from stock and from a consecutive run of new notes (first prefix letters - AA) in Uncirculated at £10, or uncirculated First Prefix AA01 at £45.00 No paper £5 notes bearing Cleland's signature were issued. The release date for the Churchill polymer £5 note was Tuesday 13th September 2016.

BOE CHIEF CASHIER from 1st JUNE 2014 - Ms. Victoria Cleland, now in circulation.

New CHIEF CASHIER from 1st June 2018 - Ms Sarah John, new signature expected on £5 and £10, but not on £20 until new polymer issue in 2020.

Chief Cashier from 1st APRIL 2011 was CHRIS SALMON. Boulton & Watt £50 notes first released 2nd November 2011.

According to the Bank of England, £5 £10 and £20 notes bearing Chris Salmon's signature were released from September 2012.

LOOK OUT FOR NEW NOTES AND REPORT NEW SERIALS RANGES SEEN TO US. THANK YOU!

Latest serials known based on sheet sizes (updated 28th October 2018) for standard runs are as follows...

Five Pounds (Winston Churchill): First Cleland signature prefix AA01 000001. Highest prefix seen BC60.

Ten Pounds (Charles Darwin): Last Salmon LH40 First Cleland signature prefix LH01. Highest prefix seen ME40 - ** Note overlaps on LH01-40!! **

Twenty Pounds (Adam Smith): Last Salmon JJ40 First Cleland signature prefix JH41. **Highest prefix seen LA40

Fifty Pounds (Boulton & Watt): Last Salmon AJ70 First Cleland signature prefix AJ36. Highest prefix seen BB, probably to BB35.

- - -

Five Pounds (Elizabeth Fry): Last Bailey LE90 First Salmon signature prefix LE46 082001. Highest prefix seen MD90.

Ten Pounds (Charles Darwin): Last Bailey KC40 First Salmon signature prefix confirmed as JH01 033001. Highest prefix seen LH40

Twenty Pounds (Adam Smith): Last Bailey HE80 First Salmon signature prefix confirmed as HA01 000001. Highest prefix seen JH80

Fifty Pounds (Boulton & Watt): First Salmon signature prefix confirmed as AA01 000001. Highest prefex seen AJ35 (AJ40 reported, unconfirmed)

Ten Pounds (Darwin) Lowther last prefix: CC80, Twenty Pounds (Elgar): Last prefix : EH40, Fifty Pounds (Houblon): R70

- - -

The Prefixes LE90 / KC40 / HE80 are now known to be the final prefixes for £5 / £10 / £20 respectively with Bailey signature.

Overlaps exist for Bailey & Salmon on £5 notes from LE46-90, on £10 notes JH & JJ, KB & KC, and on £20 notes HA,HD, & HE.

Confirmation and sightings of overlap prefixes will be collated and listed here as seen.

FORGERY DILEMMA...?

BEWARE!!! £10 forgery prefix RR68 signature Bailey - Received by us in cash paid out by local bank 25/11/13 - a good quality forgery but with classic errors - incomplete security thread when held to light, superficial watermark, lack of raised print, foil not real hologram, and of course a prefix that hasn't been issued! It still fooled the bank, and was only spotted in a pile of notes due to us automatically checking the serial. Do I keep it as a novelty for my collection or return it to the bank...?

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!

For the change checkers amongst us...

Serial Spread Bailey/Salmon Overlaps and Cleland signature – Compiled by Mark T. Ray

...showing highest and lowest serials encountered for each printed sheet. Updates welcome...

 Five (£5) Pounds

Prefix Range    Signature           Serials seen

LE46-90           Bailey     ............ 999000 to  775573
LE46-90           Salmon   ............ 769984  to 082001  (LE46 first Salmon)
LE46-90           Bailey     ............ 082000  to 000001 (LE90 last Bailey)

LH01-90          all Salmon

all later notes to MD90 Salmon signature (MD90 last Salmon).

Winston Churchill Polymer notes, CLELAND signature:

AA, to AM, BA...     Cleland ............ Ongoing (AA01 first Cleland).

 Ten (£10) Pounds

Prefix Range       Signature         Serials seen

JH01-40               Bailey              999000 to  339172
JH01-40               Salmon            335968  to 033001   (JH01 first Salmon)
JH01-40               Bailey              033000 to 000001

JH41-80               Bailey              999000 to 267205   
JH41-80               Salmon            262187 to 000001  

JJ01-40                Salmon             999000 to  770981
JJ01-40                Bailey               765915 to  000001

JJ41-80, JK01-80   all Bailey

KA01-80                  all Bailey

KB01-40                  all Bailey

KB41-80                Bailey             999000 to 322903  
KB41-80                Salmon           320228 to 275938          
KB41-80                Bailey             272503 to 000001  

KC01-40                Bailey             999000 to 631828 (KC40 last Bailey)
KC01-40                Salmon           624344 to 000001  

KC41-80               all Salmon

KD01 thru LE80 all Salmon

LH01-40                Salmon              999000 to 577510 (LH40 last Salmon)
LH01-40                Cleland             571398 to 000001  (LH01 first Cleland)

LH41-80               all Cleland

LJ, LK......      all Cleland

 Twenty (£20) Pounds

Prefix Range       Signature         Serials seen

HA01-40               Bailey                 999000    to    053594 (break assumed at 053001)
HA01-40               Salmon               052210     to    000001   (HA01 first Salmon)
               
HA41-80               Salmon              999000 to 260054
HA41-80               Bailey                255459 to 000001

HB01-80,HC01-80 all Bailey

HD01-40               all Bailey

HD41-80               Bailey               999000 to   844094 (break assumed at 844001)
HD41-80               Salmon             843864  to   000001

HE01-40               all Salmon

HE41-80               Salmon             999000 to 861285 (break assumed at 860001)  
HE41-80               Bailey               858982 to 821519   (HE80 last Bailey)       
HE41-80               Salmon             816724 to 000001

HH01 thru JH40  all Salmon

JH41-80                Salmon             999000 to 765528 (JH80 last Salmon)
JH41-80                Cleland            761955 to 000001 (JH41 first Cleland)

JJ01-40                Cleland              All Seen

JJ41-80                all Cleland

JK01-80               all Cleland

KA, KB...     all Cleland to date

 Fifty (£50) Pounds

Prefix Range       Signature         Serials seen

AJ36-70                Salmon            999000 to 987351 Please report. (AJ70 last Salmon)
AJ36-70                Cleland           954659 to 000001 (AJ36 first Cleland)

AK01-70               Cleland             All seen.

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 previous), 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 sightings of notes with serials lower than those mentioned below would be useful.

Mark.

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!