A £5 note engraved with the image of England captain Harry Kane has entered circulation in Wales, potentially worth thousands of pounds to the lucky finder. Micro-engraver Graham Short created six notes, one for each goal Kane scored during the 2018 World Cup, where he won the Golden Boot.
Short, based in Birmingham, used fine needles to scratch Kane's portrait onto clear sections of the polymer notes. The first note was spent in Meriden, the geographical centre of England, while another was used in Edinburgh at the Elephant House café, where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter. One note will circulate in Northern Ireland, and two have been given to the Football Association and Kane himself.
The final note was spent in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, the birthplace of Short's father. The artist spent it at a shop in Cefn Coed last Wednesday, but the shopkeeper did not notice the engraving and handed it to a customer as change. Short hopes the note, which remains legal tender, could change someone's life in the area, potentially fetching up to £50,000 at auction.
Short previously created Jane Austen £5 notes, one of which sold for £6,000. His portrait of the Queen on a needle eye fetched over £100,000. He encourages people to check their change carefully for the rare Kane notes.
