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 23rd December 2008) for standard runs are as follows

Five Pounds: KA90 (note: JJ not yet seen)

Ten Pounds: EJ40

Note: Ten Pounds CC41-80 high numbers now confirmed as Lowther, and breakpoint established.

Twenty Pounds (Elgar): EH40 last seen (please report if higher numbers seen)

Twenty Pounds (Smith) CD40

Fifty Pounds (Bailey signature): as listed below: