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NOTOFILIA Numismatics and Notaphily
ES (Spanish) EN (English)

England · Bank of England · Polymer

£5 · Churchill · 2016

The Bank of England’s first polymer note: Elizabeth II on the promise face and Winston Churchill on the reverse. Copyright 2015; first issued 13 September 2016. Serial AC04 879241.

Catalog facts

Pick reference
P#394 · BNB B203a
Serial number
AC04 879241
Signatures
Victoria Cleland (Chief Cashier)
Condition
Unslabbed, in a sleeve; high-grade / uncirculated-looking (private collection)
Printage
The Bank of England announced 440 million New Fivers when the note entered circulation on 13 September 2016. This record does not invent a printage for prefix AC04 or for later printings.

Face

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Face (promise side) of the polymer £5, serial AC04 879241: Elizabeth II, the Elizabeth Tower window, and Victoria Cleland’s signature.

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Face (promise side) of the polymer £5, serial AC04 879241: Elizabeth II, the Elizabeth Tower window, and Victoria Cleland’s signature.
Face (promise side) of the polymer £5, serial AC04 879241: Elizabeth II, the Elizabeth Tower window, and Victoria Cleland’s signature.

Back

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Reverse of the £5: Winston Churchill, Westminster, the Nobel medal, the “blood, toil, tears and sweat” line, BLENHEIM foil, and both AC04 879241 serials.

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Reverse of the £5: Winston Churchill, Westminster, the Nobel medal, the “blood, toil, tears and sweat” line, BLENHEIM foil, and both AC04 879241 serials.
Reverse of the £5: Winston Churchill, Westminster, the Nobel medal, the “blood, toil, tears and sweat” line, BLENHEIM foil, and both AC04 879241 serials.

The note

The polymer £5 (Pick 394, The Banknote Book B203a) is the Bank of England’s first ordinary-circulation plastic note. The face — the promise side — carries Elizabeth II at right, Elizabeth Tower in gold in the clear window, the Britannia seal, and the legend “I PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF FIVE POUNDS.” The signature is Victoria Cleland, Chief Cashier. The footer reads “© THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND 2015”: that is the design copyright, not the issue date. The reverse shows Winston Churchill (1874–1965) before the Palace of Westminster and Elizabeth Tower, the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature medal, the line “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat,” and the BLENHEIM foil patch. Both serials — vertical at left and horizontal at lower right — read AC04 879241. This collection piece, sleeved and unslabbed, appears high grade / uncirculated-looking; it has no certificate. The serial is ordinary: counter 879241 is neither low nor a fancy pattern. It is not the 2024 Charles III £5, which keeps Churchill on the back but changes the royal portrait.

Scarcity and printage

This is the ordinary-circulation £5 type from 13 September 2016. Elizabeth Fry paper notes ceased to be legal tender on 5 May 2017. The Bank announced 440 million notes at launch; later printings with the same Elizabeth II face ran through 2018 (Numista places the last Cleland prefix at BC60). AC04 879241 is an ordinary Cleland serial, not a first-prefix AA01 and not a replacement. This record does not invent a printage by prefix.

Population

A PMG or PCGS census for serial AC04 879241 has not been independently verified. The note is shown in a sleeve, unslabbed, with no certificate.

Sources

← England