The Charity Auction of Bank of Scotland £100 Notes of low and special numbers was held on Thursday, May 5, 2022.
A total of 186 single banknotes and two proof sheets were auctioned, with the proceeds being donated to these two charities:
- Mental Health UK https://mentalhealth-uk.org/
92 AA-prefix banknotes and 92 matching FM-prefix banknotes were auctioned, all as individual lots. Two additional "choose your own serial number" banknotes and two proof sheets of 40 notes (all notes having serial number FM000000) were auctioned. A 20% buyer's premium was added to all hammer prices.
The AA-prefix banknotes were prepared solely for this charity auction and none will be placed into circulation. They proved quite popular in the auction. The FM and ES (replacement) prefixes can be found on the banknotes in circulation. No ES-prefix banknotes were offered in this auction.
The following special numbers were auctioned, each number being auctioned with the AA and FM prefixes (two separate lots): 000001-000050, 000123, 000150, 000200, 000250, 000300, 000350, 000400, 000450, 000500, 000550, 000600, 000650, 000700, 000750, 000800, 000850, 000900, 000950, 000111, 000222, 000333, 000444, 000555, 000666, 000777, 000888, 000999, 001000, 010000, 050000, 111111, 123456, 222222, 333333, 383838, 444444, 555555, 666666, 777777, 888888, 999999 and 1000000.
Surprisingly the numbers 000100 and 100000 were not included in the auction.
The AA000001 and FM000001 banknotes sold for £ 17,000 and £ 4,800 respectively. The ever popular solid 8s (AA888888 and FM888888) sold for £ 5,000 and £ 4,000 respectively.
The 92 AA-prefix banknotes sold for a total of £ 141,600, an average of £ 1,539.13 per banknote.
The cheapest AA-prefix banknotes (AA000046, 48, 49) sold for £ 700 each.
The 92 FM-prefix banknotes sold for a total of £ 73,680, an average of £ 800.87 per banknote.
The cheapest FM-prefix banknotes (FM000044, 300, 350, 450, 750, 850, 950) sold for £ 320 each.
The proof sheets of 40 notes sold for £ 8,000 and £ 7,000 each.
The "choose your own serial number" banknotes sold for £ 5,000 and £ 5,800 each, both sold to the same bidder.
All lots and hammer prices can be found here: https://www.spink.com/auctions/view?auctionId=22100
All prices listed in this article are the hammer prices. The end price paid for a note would be: hammer price + 20% buyer's premium + VAT (when applicable) + shipping (when applicable) + customs fees (when applicable).
A grand total of £ 241,080 was raised for charity, and £ 48,216 was assessed in commission (buyer's premiums).
