Posts by Change Checker
Here’s where you can find the new Jane Austen Polymer £10 note…
LEEDS
HSBC: 33 Park Row, LS1 1LD
YORKSHIRE BANK: 94-96 Briggate, LS1 6NP
CARDTRONICS: Rawdon Newsagents, 11 Harrogate Road, LS19 6HW
LIVERPOOL
SANTANDER: 45 Lord Street, L2 6PB
NEWCASTLE
SANTANDER: 112-118 Northumberland Street, NE1 7DG
BIRMINGHAM
HSBC: 130 New Street, B2 4JU
NATWEST: Grand Central, B2 4BF
LLOYDS: 36-38 New Street, B2 4EG
BARCLAYS: 79-84 High Street, B4 7TE
MANCHESTER
NOTE MACHINE: Lowry Outlet Mall, The Quays, Salford, M50 3AP
NATWEST: 1 Spinningfields, M3 3AP
BARCLAYS: 17 St Ann’s Square, M2 7PW
LONDON
NOTE MACHINE: Barry’s Food and Wine, 149 Hoxton Street, N1 6PJ
SANTANDER: 48-54 Moorgate, EC2R 6EJ & 164-167 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7JE & 2 Triton Square, Regents Place, NW1 3AN
POST OFFICE: 26/28 The Broadway, E15 4QS
BARCLAYS: 46-48 Regent Street, Piccadilly, W18 5RA
HSBC: 165 Fleet Street, EC4A 2DY
NATIONWIDE: 1 Threadneedle Street, EC2r 8BP
NATWEST: 10 Southwark Street, SE1 1TJ
LLOYDS: 33 Old Broad Street, EC2N 1HZ
BASINGSTOKE
NATWEST: 3 London Street, RG21 7NS
WINCHESTER
SANTANDER: 119 High Street, SO23 9AS
NATWEST: 105 High Street, SO23 9AW
BATH
NOTE MACHINE : Eurochange Bath, 6 Southgate Street
HSBC: 45 Milsom Street, BA1 1DU
NATWEST: 15-17 High Street, BA1 5AH
CARDIFF
LLOYDS: 31 Queens Street, CF10 2AG
SWINDON
NATIONWIDE: Nationwide House, Pipers Way, SN3 1TX
How does it feel to design the UK’s newest circulation coin? I caught up with Aaron West to find out.
Aaron West is part of the design team for The Royal Mint and is responsible for designing the latest coin released into circulation, the Sir Isaac Newton 50p.
Aaron West, a designer for The Royal Mint, signing the new Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin pack
This is the second circulation coin designed by Aaron, the first being the very popular Great Fire of London £2.
The two UK circulation coins Aaron has designed – The Sir Isaac Newton 50p and The Great Fire of London £2
I wanted to find out what makes a coin designer tick and Aaron kindly answered some of my questions:
How long have you been designing coins for The Royal Mint and how many have you designed to date?
I have been designing coins for over four years now. I have designed many coins but have been fortunate to win two design competitions.
How did you become a coin designer for The Royal Mint?
I joined The Royal Mint in June 2011. I applied for a maternity cover position and then was given a permanent position. I have been working as a designer for over seven years.
Which coins have you designed for The Royal Mint?
I have official coins designs for a £2 coin, The Great Fire of London and for a 50 pence piece, Sir Isaac Newton.
Aaron sketching his initial Sir Isaac Newton 50p design ideas. (Image: The Royal Mint)
Can you tell me briefly the process involved when designing a coin?
There is no specific process involved when designing a coin. It depends on the subject. For example, The Great Fire of London, I broke it down to three elements. Firstly I concentrated on the bottom of the design (the river and boats) then I moved onto the middle part of the design (buildings / skyline). The third / top part of the design (the smoke) was the most difficult part. I try to keep all of my designs simple because a lot of detail will not be clear on a small diameter.
Approximately how long does it take to design one coin?
Again, it all depends on the subject. I try to spend a few days on research before I start my design concepts. If the subject is complex then I’ll spend more time on research. It takes me approximately an hour for each design (rough sketch).
These sketches show the stages of the design process for the Great Fire of London £2 (Image: The Royal Mint)
What is the most challenging aspect when designing a coin?
The most challenging aspect when designing a coin is trying to fit everything in a small area. Coins are very small so to make a design stand out is very challenging.
How do you feel when you receive a coin that you’ve designed in your change?
Unfortunately, I have yet to find any of my designs in my pocket change but I am still looking. Some of my friends and family have found them and messaged me some pictures which was very thoughtful.
I am pleased that people are looking for them which makes me very proud. I am also very proud to a part of history.
The Isaac Newton 50p coin has a very intricate design for a small area
Finally, other than one of your own (obviously!) what is your favourite coin design and why?
My favourite coin design would have to be the Jane Austen £2 coin. I like the portrait which is featured in the centre but I particularly like the inner silver edge. The inner silver edge is a picture frame which works very well. I also like the stripes which on the design, they stand out.
2017 UK Isaac Newton CERTIFIED BU 50p
Own the brand new Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin in CERTIFIED Brilliant Uncirculated condition for just £3.99 (plus p+p).
The Jane Austen Polymer £10 notes to look out for…
When the new polymer £5 note was released in September 2016, serial numbers became the talk of a nation. Stories of early serial numbers selling for thousands of pounds were commonplace. An “AK37 007 James Bond Bank of England Polymer £5 note” sold for £5000 – 1,000 times its face value!
A ‘James ‘Bond’ £5 note sold for £5,000 on eBay
So with the release of the new Jane Austen £10 note TODAY, I’ve taken a look at the serial numbers I think everybody will be searching for…
World famous author, Jane Austen, features on the new Polymer £10 note
The first prefixes I considered were JA01, JA75 (Jane Austen’s birth year) and JA17 (the year of Jane Austen’s death).
However, whilst these will likely become popular with collectors in the future, it could be many years before notes with these serial numbers enter circulation due to the huge amount of possible combinations that would come before ‘JA’.
Prefixes on the £5 notes started at AA and there are 60 notes on a sheet, AA01- AA60. For each of these cyphers there are 999,000 serial numbers printed: 000001 to 999000. Therefore for the first AA cypher there’s an incredible 59,940,000 notes!
I know that with the £10 note being larger, there are only 54 notes per sheet but that’s still A LOT of combinations.
UK Bank notes are produced in very large batches (Image: the Bank of England)
So I started looking at the main 8 digit serial numbers and there are certainly some key Jane Austen dates collectors will be looking out for:
- Serial numbers 16 121775 and 18 071817 would represent the author’s date of birth and death respectively.
- Serial number 17 751817 would be her birth and death year combined.
- And true Jane Austen fanatics would know that Serial number 28 011813 is the date that Jane Austen’s most celebrated novel, Pride and Prejudice, was first published.
What others serial numbers should I look out for?
The first is obvious, AA01 notes are the first to be printed and will undoubtedly be popular amongst collectors.
The rest of the AA prefix notes will be interesting to collectors but not necessarily worth a huge amount, although that said, some £5 notes did sell for around £20 last year – four times their face value.
There may well be a rush to find the AK47 serial numbers again and James Bond 007 will likely be popular.
Consecutively numbered notes are always interesting to collectors too, one man sold three consecutive AA01 notes for £456.
Will all the serial numbers be circulated?
Actually, no. The Bank of England will always hold back some of the notes with the earliest serial numbers, donating them to people or institutions that were involved in the development of the note or who traditionally receive a note when a new series is issued. For example, the Queen receives AA01 000001 and the Churchill War Rooms received a new £5 note with serial number AA01 001945, the date that WWII ended.
The Bank of England did offer people the chance to own some of the earliest serial numbers when they held an auction (which raised £194,500 for a number of charities). However, these were not cheap, the earliest note (AA01 000017) sold for £4,150 and the average price for a single £5 note was £865.
Can you request specific serial numbered notes from the bank?
Sadly not. For the launch of the new £5 note 440 million bank notes were printed and these were printed in very large batches.
There will be even more new £10 notes printed than the £5, to service the country’s 48,000 ATMs for example, so it’s just not possible for the bank to separate certain serial numbers.
How much should I pay for a new £10 note?
The simple answer is, it’s completely up to you. An early serial numbered £10 note will be a genuine piece of the country’s history. It’s likely the bank of England will hold another auction of early editions, so if you have the disposable income, why not?!
However, when the polymer £5 note was released we saw a collecting frenzy. The prices people were paying (and demanding) for some of the early notes was vastly inflated and in some cases ridiculous, as Yasmin explained earlier in the year.
Just remember, a year down the line the market has settled and you can now pick up an AA01 note for around £7.00 on eBay.
Exclusive 2017 Jane Austen £2 Coin and £10 Banknote Pack
2017 marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death. To celebrate such an inspirational female figure, the Royal Mint and the Bank of England have chosen to honour her on a brand new £2 coin and £10 banknote.
You can own one of the very first Polymer £10 notes issued in perfect mint condition alongside the 2017 Jane Austen £2 Coin issued by The Royal Mint.