Rare Jane Austen note worth £50,000 is found in Northern Ireland
The third of four engraved £5 notes worth £50,000 has been found in Northern Ireland.
An elderly woman discovered one of the fivers, which were etched with a tiny portrait of Jane Austen by artist Graham Short, at Charlie’s Bar in Enniskillen.
The Birmingham-based microengraver released the notes into circulation last year by spending one in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Mr Short told the Mollie Green show on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire: ‘I went into a small bar called Charlie’s Bar and actually that is where I spent it.
‘It has just been found a couple of weeks ago. An elderly lady found it.’
The woman asked to remain anonymous, but said she would prefer to give the proceeds from any sale to ‘young children’.
Mr Short painstakingly carved tiny 5mm portraits of the novelist onto the polymer cash next to the images of Sir Winston Churchill and Big Ben.
The outline of the golden engraving is visible to the naked eye - but a microscope is needed to see it properly.
Each image of the Pride and Prejudice author is surrounded by a unique quote from some of her most celebrated novels.
Mr Short is most famous for engraving the words of the Lord’s Prayer on to the head of a pin.
The first special fiver was found in December last year by a customer taking change from a sausage and egg sandwich at a café in Blackwood, South Wales.
The finder, an elderly woman who asked not to be named, said she would give it to her granddaughter as a gift.
The second was discovered that same month in a Christmas card in the Scottish Borders.
The lucky recipient also asked to remain anonymous, but got in touch with Tony Huggins-haig, whose gallery in Kelso commissioned Short for the project.
When he released the notes, the 70-year-old artist said: ‘I’m always looking to do something different and as soon as I saw the new £5 note I thought “wouldn’t it be good if I could engrave something on it?”
‘I didn’t know what but then I found out it was going to be the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death and her image is also going on the new £10 note, so it ties in nicely with that.’