ARTIST DONATES MICRO-PORTRAIT TO AUSTEN MUSEUM

JAne Austen micro-portrait on £5 banknote

The Birmingham creator of the Jane Austen £5 notes has revealed there is NOT a fifth note in circulation.

It was previously thought that Graham Short had put the fiver - worth up to £50,000 - into the UK money chain.

But now the micro-engraver has confirmed while there IS a fifth engraved fiver, it will NOT be put into circulation - but will instead go to a Jane Austen museum.

To celebrate the launch of the plastic fivers last year, Mr Short was commissioned by the Bank of England to put his unique mini engravings onto four of the notes.

The engravings contain a tiny portrait of Jane Austen and a line from her books.

They are not immediately visible and can only be seen by holding the banknote up to the light at a certain angle.

At first it was thought there were just four of the engraved fivers, but over Easter rumours started that a fifth had been created.

Mr Short, who lives in Bournville , said: "Somewhere along the line the story has lost its way a little.

"I visited the Jane Austen Centre in Bath last month. I really felt that I needed to know more about her life than I do.

"After spending nearly two hours at the centre, the staff were speculating that I had spent another fiver in the city.

"This is happening all too often. I visited a balti restaurant in Redditch recently, and the next day a member of their staff called me to ask if I'd spent a fiver there when I'd paid mybill!"

But he said he had created a fifth engraved note which has a quote from Persuasion saying: "You pierce my soul, I am half agony, half hope".

"This will be presented, as a gift, to the Jane Austen Centre on July 18th, the 200th anniversary of the author's death," he said.

The engraved £5 notes are estimated to be worth at least £50,000 each.

To read the complete article, see:

Fifth Jane Austen £5 note will NOT be put into circulation - but will instead go to Jane Austen museum(www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/fifth-jane-austen-5-note-12917992)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:

ARTIST SPENDS BILL ENGRAVED WITH MICRO-PORTRAIT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n51a30.html)
BILL ENGRAVED WITH MICRO-PORTRAIT FOUND (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n09a30.html)
MICRO-PORTRAIT ARTIST EYES NEW POUND COIN (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n15a38.html)