How to spot if your new £10 note is worth much more

Credit: Bank of England

The new £10 banknote featuring a portrait of the celebrated novelist Jane Austen has entered circulation, marking 200 years since the author's death.

Certain serial numbers are bound to be popular with collectors and could mean your new tenner is worth a lot more, but what should you be looking out for?

Early serial numbers will be popular and the first run of notes start with the prefix AA01.

The very first notes are unlikely to make it to the public - the Queen is given the first printed note, for example - but roughly the first million new £10 notes will all have the AA01 prefix and these could be worth several times their face value - when the new £5 notes came out it was not unknown for them to go for hundreds if not thousands of pounds.

According to ChangeChecker.org, other popular serial numbers will be 16 121775 and 18 071817 - Jane Austen's date of birth and death respectively.

Serial number 17 751817 would be the author's birth and death year combined, while 28 011813 would be the date her beloved novel Pride and Prejudice was first published

Other quirky numbers that have proved popular in the past are

Notes with the prefix JA are expected to be popular, given those are the author's initials, but the number of possible combinations mean it could be years before those are seen in circulation.

So far just over one billion polymer £10 notes have been printed ready for issue and they will start to appear in wallets as the notes leave cash centres around the country and enter general circulation.

Keep your eyes peeled!

  • Is it all just luck or can I get the number I want?

When the new £5 notes came out the Bank of England held a charity auction for notes with interesting and significant serial numbers.

The Bank is planning to do the same again on 6th October.

  • How long has the old £10 note got left?

People can continue to spend the existing paper £10 notes featuring Charles Darwin for now, but they will be phased out gradually by spring 2018.

The exact date will be announced at least three months in advance.

  • What else do I need to know about the new note?

The new note is the first Bank of England banknote with a tactile feature to help blind and partially-sighted users - a series of raised dots in the top left-hand corner of the note that was developed with the help of the RNIB.

Security features on the new banknote include a see-through window featuring the Queen's portrait, a quill which changes from purple to orange and a hologram of the coronation crown which appears 3D and multi-coloured when the note is tilted.

Like the new £5 notes already in circulation the new £10 note is made from polymer, which has sparked controversy since it uses tallow, or animal fat.

The new banknotes are expected to last at least two-and-a-half times longer than the current paper £10 notes, around five years in total.

  • What's the next note to get a reboot?

A new £20 note featuring artist JMW Turner will follow in 2020.