Rare Queen Elizabeth II banknote in £85,860 charity sale

A collection of rare banknotes donated anonymously to a British Heart Foundation shop in Edinburgh raised £85,860 at auction on October 14, 2026, The Economic Times reported. Nearly 160 lots went under the hammer at specialist auction house Noonans, with the proceeds supporting research into heart and circulatory diseases.

Among the highlights was a rare, uncirculated banknote depicting a young Queen Elizabeth II and issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency Malaya and British Borneo. The £85,860 was the total raised by the collection, not the price of that individual note.

The international collection also included an extremely rare 1947 Iraqi 10-dinar colour trial and a 1961 specimen 100-riyal note from Saudi Arabia. Specimen and trial banknotes from several countries formed part of the donation.

From donated albums to a specialist auction

The albums arrived at the charity’s home store in Straiton Retail Park, Edinburgh. Staff looked through the folders but did not initially know how much the banknotes might be worth.

Shop manager David McCormack said the team sent the collection to the charity’s eBay team in Leeds for investigation. Discovering its potential value came as a considerable surprise, he said, and staff were proud that the donor had chosen their shop.

The notes subsequently went to Noonans for the sale. The auction house waived its vendor commission, allowing more of the proceeds to support the charity’s research.

Collectors respond to the charitable sale

Andrew Pattison, head of the banknotes department at Noonans, described the specimens and trials as unusually scarce material that attracted interest from collectors worldwide. He said many notes fetched somewhat more than usual because bidders knew the sale would benefit charity.

British Heart Foundation chief commercial officer Allison Swaine-Hughes thanked the anonymous donor, the Edinburgh shop staff and the auction house. She said the donation would help fund research benefiting people affected by cardiovascular disease.