The new tenner that has just sold for £7,200!

Jane Austen £10 note smashes its estimate at Bank of England auction

A new polymer Jane Austen tenner has sold for a huge £7,200 at a Bank of England charity auction this morning, smashing the estimate of £2,000£3,000.

Fierce bidding erupted over the AA01 000010 note at the event in London held by auction house Spink - it was the lowest serial numbered one available to buy. It means the note went for an incredible 720 times its face value.

In total, there are 87 £10 notes at the auction with serial numbers between 10 and 100. The second lot, note AA01 000011 sold for a huge £5,200 and AA01 000012 for £3,500. All together, the new £10 note element of the auction raised £263,200 for charity.

Auction expert and star of television shows British Gold American Treasure and Storage Hunters, Jesse McClure, went to the auction today looking to buy one of the lots on offer and kept This is Money in the loop as to what was happening at the event.

He said: 'It was crazy from the off. There were a pair who were largely outbidding everyone – and they'd take it in turns to go out back, take photographs of them to probably list online.

The Queen was gifted AA01 000001 and other lower numbers go to people close to the process.

The tenner with the serial number AA01 001817 to was donated to Winchester Cathedral - which features on the note - marking the year when Austen was buried there.

Today's packed and boisterous charity auction is the fifth the Bank of England has instigated of low numbered banknotes.

In an interview with chief cashier Victoria Cleland – who auctioned the AA01 000010 note - she said interest around low serial numbered notes shows 'how much the public care about notes and physical money.' She added: 'I guess it is a bit like car number plates – some people want to collect notes with serial numbers the same as their initials.'

The new £10 note launched on 14 September. It saw dozens of people queuing outside the Bank of England to get their hands on them. Serious collectors are most likely to be interested in AA01 notes in brilliant condition. Other serial numbers expected to have a bit of interest include ones starting JA01 and JA75 (JA = Jane Austen).