Chancers are listing the new Jane Austen £10 notes on eBay already for up to £900, despite the notes being in circulation for less than a day.
The tender featuring the 19th century author’s portrait has been launched for the first time today, with just 32 cash points nationwide stocking the freshly-printed cash.
Lucky Britons have been sharing their photographs of the new notes after a mad scramble this morning outside the Bank of England and ATMs in selected areas.
The Queen received the first note – numbered AA01 000001 – but dozens in London, Newcastle and Manchester today will be hoping to pick up others beginning with the lucrative serial number.
The Bank of England expects that the new notes should be available at the following ATM locations today, although they cannot guarantee from what time
Dutch tourists visiting the house where Jane Austen died in Winchester inspect the new note
Keen: Dozens of collectors queued up outside the Bank of England today to exchange their old ten pound notes for the new Jane Austen edition
Already 68 separate listings have been added to marketplace website eBay with one seller hoping to get £900 for 50 ten pound banknotes.
Die hard fans of treasured author will also be on the look out for numbers which bear special significance to Austen.
These include her date of birth (16 12 1775) and her the date of her death (18 07 1817).
The Bank of England has printed just over a billion new £10 notes which will replace the Charles Darwin paper version by next spring.
The plastic £10 contains the same levels of animal fat as found in the modernised £5 which caused controversy with vegan campaigners last September.
The arrival of the new tenner today marks the end of a four-year ordeal for feminist Caroline Criado-Perez, who campaigned to get the esteemed author featured on the bank note.
She said she will donate her first new £10 to a women’s shelter and urged others to do the same.
Governor for the Bank of England Mark Carney spoke of his excitement for the new note yesterday, saying it celebrated Jane Austen’s work.
Security: Guards were at the door to ensure the queue was well managed, letting in a small number of people at a time
While the Queen gets the first note, with its AA01 000001 serial number, but race will be on for collectors hoping to get their hands on others beginning with AA01
New tenner: Today, those eager to get their hands on the notes will be able to get their hands on them
It is the first of its kind to have raised dots on it to let the blind and visually impaired identify it.
It has a security hologram of the word ‘ten’, which changes to ‘pounds’ when tilted.
Its new security features coupled with the presence of Jane Austen’s portrait mean experts anticipate notes carrying the A001 will fetch large sums online.
Last year the £5 notes brought into circulation featuring Winston Churchill with serial numbers beginning with AA01 were trading hands on online markets places for up to £3,000.
As a result, a number of eager collectors may be looking to get their hands on crisp new £10 notes with low serial numbers today.
People can trade their £10 notes for the new ones at the Bank of England in Central London.
Jane Austen: The writer has a huge fan base overseas, which could drive up the price of some low serial numbered notes
Specific ATM machines in Birmingham, Swindon, Cardiff, Bath, Winchester, Basingstoke, Manchester and London will be stocked with the Jane Austen notes.
Chancers are already listing notes on eBay despite not having any – and it is likely as the week goes on, a pile of new £10 notes will appear on online marketplaces for speculative prices.
Serious collectors may be in the market for AA01 notes, with low following numbers, or ones that are rounded.
For example, combinations such as AA01 000333, AA01 555555 and AA01 909090.
Grouped notes also sell well. Last year, a seller sold three consecutive AA01 notes for £456.
Really low notes are given away. For example AA01 000001 will go to the Queen, and a bunch of other low serial numbers to other people close to the process.
There will also be a charity auction next month for the notes. A new £5 with the serial AA01 000017 – the lowest available to the public -sold for a whopping £4,150.
Furthermore, collectors may be interested in other notable serial numbers. For example, ones starting JA (Jane Austen) while there is no doubt going to be a rush of people flooding eBay with AK47 notes.
Other examples to watch out for are serial numbers 16 121775 and 18 071817 – this is Jane Austen’s date of birth and death respectively.
Serial number 28 011813 is the date that Jane Austen’s most celebrated novel, Pride and Prejudice, was first published.
The author has a huge following outside of Britain, so it could well be that overseas collectors will be interested in getting their hands in some of these notes, driving up the price.
However, what these notes actually sell for is not clear until they start circulating and until bids start rolling.
Additionally, it is worth pointing that a year after the £5 note hype, the market has settled and you can now pick up a random AA01 note for £7 on eBay.
‘Erm, what about the Queen?’ Viewers mock BBC reporter for saying the new Jane Austen £10 note marks the return of a woman to English bank notes
Viewers have been mocking a BBC reporter who said the new Jane Austen £10 note marks the return of a woman to English tender.
Business journalist Sean Farrington seemingly forgot the Queen during his stint on the Beeb’s breakfast programme this morning.
Mr Farrington said: ‘There has been a period of about four months where there were no women on any English bank notes.’
Business journalist Sean Farrington (right) seemingly forgot the Queen was on English bank notes during his stint on the Beeb’s breakfast programme this morning
In May the old paper £5 featuring Elizabeth Fry went out of circulation and were no longer accepted.
The 18th century prison reformer and philanthropist was replaced by Winston Churchill on the new plastic design.
But throughout this four month period, the Queen’s iconic portrait has remained on English tender.
This seemed to have slipped Mr Farrington’s mind this morning, to the annoyance of viewers who took to Twitter to vent.
One woman said: ‘What about the Queen?’
Thomas Mathie posted to Twitter: ‘Hey BBC Breakfast, Jane Austen is NOT the first woman on a UK bank note.’
While another added: ‘*Cough* the Queen.’
Anger: One viewer hit out at the programme after the reporter incorrectly stated Jane Austen was the first woman on a UK bank note in four months
‘Who writes this stuff?’: Dozens of Twitter users pointed out the flaw in the interview
‘Jane Austen wasn’t the first!’ Stephen Williams pointed out Elizabeth Fry was recently on £5 notes until they went out of circulation
The arrival of the new note marks a victory following a hard-fought battle by campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez
The arrival of the new note marks a victory following a hard-fought battle by campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez.
The feminist was sent around 50 abusive tweets an hour including rape and death threats after she successfully won a campaign to get the British author featured on a bank note.
Writing today to Twitter, she said: ‘The new tenner is out today. I want you all to please send me pictures of you with your first tenner (and then donate it to your local women’s shelter.’
The note is the second to be printed on a plastic polymer which the Bank says is cleaner, safer and more hard-wearing than the traditional cotton paper it will replace.
A plastic fiver featuring Winston Churchill entered circulation last September, replacing the paper version with Elizabeth Fry featured.
The new note is slightly bigger than its five pound version and has tactile information which is raised to help those with visual impairments.