Map reveals the last known locations of four rare £5 notes worth £50,000 thanks to Jane Austen engraving as Brits desperately try to snap them up
THIS map shows the last known locations of four ultra-rare £5 notes worth thousands thanks to their Jane Austen engravings.
People up and down the country have been feverishly checking their wallets to see if they have one of the unique plastic fivers worth £50,000 - which we can now reveal have been spent in South Wales, Leicestershire and Edinburgh.
One woman told the Sun Online exclusively how a note slipped through her hands after she spent it before realising its value.
Gillian Wynne noticed something unusual about one of the new £5 notes she had been given in an Edinburgh shop.
She said: "I'm certain I came across it, I'm absolutely kicking myself, I never knew until the next day.
"I had four fivers I thought that was unusual, four new fivers, I looked at the serial numbers because I knew that there was something about the serial numbers.
"I remember that I saw the face, and thought it was tiny and I thought someone had just drawn on it."
She said she read an article about the special engravings the next day and thought it was "exactly what I saw".
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She thinks she spent it in Next, River Island or Primark in Fort Kinnaid, Edinburgh.
The picture of Jane Austen, by micro-engraver Graham Short, turned the note into artwork worth thousands.
The artist travelled around the UK spending a note in each country to get them into circulation.
He has released the location of where he spent three of the four unique notes.
So far we know that one note was spent in a cafe in South Wales, which was found by an OAP.
She found the note after it was used to buy a butty in the Square Cafe in Blackwood, and will gift it to her granddaughter.
Another, spent in Scotland, was first spent in Granny Jean's Bakery in Kelso, Scottish Borders, and is now thought to be in Edinburgh.
This week the artist visited Dickinson & Morris Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, to spend the third special note.The final note will be spent in Northern Ireland next, but it has not been revealed where yet.
Artist Graham Short is famed for his minuscule masterpieces that can be worth tens of thousands of pounds, and specially engraved four new Bank of England polymer £5 notes.
One each has been spent in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and now Wales.
The images are all tiny portraits of novelist Jane Austen measuring just 5mm.
The 70-year-old artist painstakingly carved tiny 5mm portraits of the novelist onto the polymer cash, next to the images of Sir Winston Churchill and Big Ben.
Classic quotes from Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park have also been engraved on to the rare Bank of England notes, which went into circulation last weekend.
The outline of the golden engraving is visible to the naked eye - but a microscope will be needed to see it properly.
Art experts are estimating that the four fivers could be worth up to £50,000 after collectors forked out thousands to buy fivers with unusual serial numbers earlier this year.
Graham previously hit headlines when he engraved the words of the Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin.
His last work - a portrait of the Queen engraved on a speck of gold inside the eye of a needle - sold for £100,000.
Graham, from Northfield, Birmingham, said: "I'm always looking to do something different.
"When 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 at first, but then I found out that next year is going to be the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death and her image is also going to be on the new £10 note, which is coming out next year, so it ties in quite nicely with that.
"The beauty of this is that in the right light you can't see the engraving at all, but when you turn the note and the light comes at a different angle, it appears.
"I like to call it invisible engraving. I've no idea how much they will be worth if people try to sell them.
"But previous pieces I have worked on have been insured for more than £50,000.
"If somebody finds one I hope they will maybe put it on eBay. If they can get some extra money for Christmas I'll be thrilled."
Fivers with the serial number AK47 have also been fetching high prices on online auctions.
Here's how to tell if your fivers are worth a mint.
With more changes to the currency in store over the next few years there should be plenty more chances to turn your change into a small fortune.
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