Spot the Ball! Kane fivers worth a fortune now in circulation
A RARE collection of £5 notes featuring England World Cup hero Harry Kane’s face have gone into circulation.
Micro-engraver Graham Short spent days engraving a picture of England’s golden boot winner onto six fivers and then spent one of them in Merthyr Tydfil.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker’s face on the new limited-edition £5 note is estimated to be worth £50,000.
Three other Kane fivers have been planted around towns and cities around the UK.
Mr Short is also the man behind the four Jane Austen £5 notes that launched into circulation back in 2016, causing a similar treasure hunt.
Tiny 5mm portraits of the iconic author were etched next to the images of Sir Winston Churchill and Big Ben, with famous quotes to accompany them.
Experts say the Harry Kane notes are believed to be worth more than a deposit on a house.
According to Mr Short, he has to lower his heart rate to below 30 beats per minute when he is doing his intricate designs.
“I work between 12am and 5am,” said the 72-year-old. “A lorry passing nearby would cause too many vibrations. I swim about 10,000m a day, which enables me to have a low resting heart rate.”
Mr Short revealed that he spent the £5 note in Bal off-licence in High Street, Cefn Coed, Merthyr Tyfil.
“I used it to buy a bottle of water,” he said. “I don’t think anyone noticed.”
One of the notes has been given to Kane himself, and another presented to the Football Association.
Mr Short, also, spent one in the village of Meriden in the West Midlands and another in Edinburgh.
The final note will be spent in Northern Ireland this week.
“I was watching the World Cup, as many people were, and it looked like Harry Kane would get the Golden Boot, and when he did I started thinking it would be great to mark that by putting his portrait on a £5 note, and got to work,” he said. “I spent the first Harry Kane note in Meriden, which is the centre of England. I spent one in Edinburgh near the coffee shop where JK Rowling first went as a young mum and started writing about Harry Potter.
“I just liked the magical feeling of that.”