Rare banknotes donated to charity shop sell for more than £85,000

A collection of rare banknotes donated to a charity shop have sold for more than £85,000 at auction.

The anonymous donation of almost 160 banknotes from around the world was made to a British Heart Foundation shop in Straiton Retail Park, Edinburgh.

Shop volunteers initially had no idea of the potential value of the donation and were “flabbergasted” when they found out the collection was worth thousands of pounds.

Shop manager David McCormack said: “When the donation came into the shop, we all looked through the folders but didn’t know much about the banknotes, so we sent them to our eBay team in Leeds to investigate.

“When we discovered their potential value, we were flabbergasted. It’s incredibly exciting to see a donation received by your shop raise such a significant amount for the charity, and we’re so proud the donor chose to give the collection to us.”

The collection had specimen and trial banknotes including a rare uncirculated note with a portrait of a young Queen Elizabeth II, issued by the board of commissioners of currency for Malaya and British Borneo.

It also included a rare 1947 Iraqi 10 dinars colour trial and a 1961 specimen 100 riyal note from Saudi Arabia.

The notes were passed to specialist auction house Noonans, where they went under the hammer on Wednesday 14 October.

The auction raised £85,860, turning this generous donation into a significant contribution towards the charity. Noonans waived its vendor commission for the auction, helping ensure more of the proceeds would support the British Heart Foundation.

"We are absolutely thrilled that this extraordinary collection has raised £85,860 for British Heart Foundation,” Allison Swaine-Hughes, British Heart Foundation Chief Commercial Officer, said.

“We are incredibly grateful to the donor who chose to entrust these remarkable banknotes to us, and to our brilliant shop team in Edinburgh who recognised that there was something very special about this donation.”

Andrew Pattison, Head of Banknotes Department at Noonans said: “It was a great privilege to handle this exceptional group of specimens and trials on behalf of the British Heart Foundation.

“The biggest thanks must go to all our bidders, all of whom are passionate banknote collectors. Material of this quality is extremely rare and collectors all over the world have responded extremely well, with many of the notes selling for that little bit more than normal on account of the charitable nature of the sale.”