The Five Pound Note

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The 2016 Polymer Winston Churchill Five Pound Note is the first note of Series G and the first non-paper English banknote. Polymer £10 notes were issued from 2017 and £20 notes will be introduced in the next couple of years.

Note that the words ‘SPECIMEN’ must be shown twice on reproductions of Bank of England notes to comply with their legal requirements.

The Polymer £5 note, introduced September 13th 2016:

Obverse:

Reverse:

Size: Approx. 124 x 65mm. The images were made on a red background, in order to properly show the transparent window area around the Queen and the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben).

Chief Cashiers: £5 notes in circulation all bear the signature of the previous Chief Cashier Victoria Cleland.

The story behind the design:

The reverse of the £5 note shows former war-time Prime minister, statesman and one of the most well known and generally very highly respected characters of the 20th century, Sir Winston Churchill. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill

This new Polymer (plastic) £5 note will circulate along side the paper Elizabeth Fry £5 notes until May 2017.

Ones to look out for:

Scarcer (but not necessarily valuable) notes include the following

AA01 – The first prefix with first serial range and therefore the first 999,999 notes made. Currently quite sought after (the earlier the better).

AK47 – I have no idea why, but AK47 prefixes did seem to be in demand because of its association with the AK47 rifle! Logic has prevailed and demand has now decreased.

 

The old style £5 note, which was used in parallel with the new style note until May 2017:

 

 

Obverse:

Reverse:

Size: Approx. 135 x 70mm.

Chief Cashiers: Old style £5 notes in current circulation bear the signature of one of three different Chief Cashiers, namely Merlyn Lowther (1999 to 2003), Andrew Bailey (2004 to 2011) or Chris Salmon (2011 to 2014). The signature of current Chief Cashier Victoria Cleland is not known to appear on any of this type of £5 note and seems to have solely been used on the new £5, shown above.

The story behind the design:

The reverse of the £5 note shows prison reformer Elizabeth Fry. http://historysheroes.e2bn.org/hero/whowerethey/108

The Elizabeth Fry £5 note will circulate along side a new £5 note featuring Winston Churchill (and made of polymer). In May 2017 Elizabeth Fry £5 notes will be removed from circulation.

Ones to look out for:

Scarcer (but not necessarily valuable notes) include the following

Merlyn Lowther notes with HA, HC01, CL, DL, EL, XA, XK, LL or JB prefixes.

Andrew Bailey notes with JB, EL, LL or LE prefixes.

Chris Salmon notes with LE prefixes (and possibly others, more research is needed).

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