How Big?

I recently bought a small collection of white five pound notes, which prompted to me to compare how the size has reduced over the years……actually not only the size but also the material used.

At just under 4x the size of our modern polymer fiver, these paper giants were not made for wallets, so must have been rolled or folded when carried around.

Historically, the last ones were printed in 1956 and they were withdrawn from circulation in 1961.

In collecting terms their value ranges from maybe £40 for a well-used 1950s example up into many thousands for earlier, good condition examples, especially those issued outside of London (with Bristol & Plymouth examples being very scarce).

In the war time the Germans used prisoners in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp to forge these, and other notes, to fund spying operations around the globe, and it is reckoned over £200 million worth were made; so collectors have to know how to spot what we’re generally high quality forgeries.