A retired couple has been left in shock after a collection of rare banknotes they discovered more than 30 years ago sold for £51,000 on Channel 5’s Cash In The Attic. The sale marks a series record for the programme, which helps people try to sell potential hidden treasures from their homes at auction.
Retired builder Vic Witt and his wife Janet Witt discovered the banknotes, which date back to between 1916 and 1918, while renovating their otherwise ordinary two-bedroom house in Beaminster, Dorset. Mrs Witt originally signed up to Cash In The Attic hoping to raise £3,000 from the sale of the notes to take 11 members of her family, from across four generations, on holiday to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary.
The first note sold for £8,000, with the remaining individual notes all also selling for four-figure sums. Three £5 notes, with consecutive serial numbers, were sold as one lot for £16,000. After all nine notes had been up for auction it was revealed that the buyer of every note was the president of the International Bank Note Society.
