Online bidder pays £18,000 for ‘extremely rare’ £10 note that was printed in 1929
- The rare Irish £10 banknote is from Dublin’s Northern Bank and dated May 1929
- Auction house Dix Noonan Webb of Mayfair, London, sold the note for £18,000
- An example of the note from ‘Ploughman’ series hadn’t been seen for a decade
A ten pound note which is more than 90 years old sold at auction today for a staggering £18,000.
The rare Irish banknote from Dublin’s Northern Bank is dated May 1929 and is part of the Ploughman series.
It is one of only seven of its type known to exist after the notes were withdrawn by the Irish Central Bank, ceasing to be valid in 1953.
Auction house Dix Noonan Webb of Mayfair, London, estimated the note would make between £22,000 and £26,000, but an internet bid secured the note for £18,000.
The Ploughman series was issued to eight banks in the Irish Free State by Ireland’s Currency Commission – which preceded the Irish Central Bank – in a move away from the pound sterling in 1929.
The rare and clean original paper banknote dated May 1929 came from Dublin’s Northern Bank and is one of only seven notes of it’s type known to exist
Notes issued to all eight banks shared the same design – except the varying name of the bank – which featured two work horses, meant to represent Ireland’s agricultural self-reliance.
Auctioneers said the note is ‘very fine and extremely rare’ and ‘difficult to find, especially in this grade’.
The crisp banknote has signatures for J Brennan and SW Knox and is a consolidated Banknote, meaning it was not legal tender but banks’ ‘promise’ to pay that amount.
Auction house Dix Noonan Webb of Mayfair, London, estimated the note would make between £22,000 and £26,000 but an internet bid secured the note for £18,000. Pictured: The reverse of the note
A currency expert at Dix Noonan Webb told MailOnline: ‘The Currency Commission, Northern Ltd, £10 was sold by a private collector.
‘The note is from the iconic and popular ‘Ploughman’ series, it is extremely rare and one of only seven notes known.
‘There hasn’t been an example come up for auction in over a decade, and the example sold today for £18,000 (hammer price) is the best example known.
‘It was sold to a private collector and probably won’t be seen for another decade.’