'Britannia fiver' and early Hull £10 note among star auction lots

A rare £5 note presented to former prime minister Harold Macmillan in 1957 is due to be auctioned off.

The note, which has the serial number A01 000003, has been valued at up to £22,000 by auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb.

Thomasina Smith, head of numismatics, said the note had the lowest serial number available to commerce.

The sale also features a rare £10 note issued in Hull in 1772 and a £5 note dating from 1899 featuring an image of York Minster.

Ms Smith said the Macmillan note was "arguably the finest post-war Bank of England note in the public domain".

"Serial numbers one and two are held in the Royal Collection, having been presented to the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh," she said.

The design of the note - known as the Britannia fiver - was also the first significant change since the introduction of the denomination in the late 1700s.

Another £5 note, presented to Macmillan in 1963, has an estimated price tag of up to £16,000.

The sale of British and world banknotes also includes a £5 note issued in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, in 1899, featuring an image of York Minister and a £10 note dating from 1772 issued by Pease's Old Bank in Hull.

Andrew Pattison, from the auctioneers, said the Leyburn note bore one of the latest dates possible for an English provincial banknote, while the Hull £10 note was one of the earliest dated in the sale.

"It was a huge sum of money at the time, and in today's money, was the equivalent of having a £1,500 note in your pocket," he added.

The auction is due to take place in London on 27 May.