Find Of The Week (4)

One of the only reasons to go into a charity shop, apart from supporting a good cause, is in anticipation of finding an item that is being retailed for far less than its monetary value. It requires, of course, that the volunteers fail to spot the import of what they have had donated, unlike Paul Wyman who helps at the Oxfam branch in Brentwood.

As he was sorting through a box of items donated by an unknown donor in October 2020, he came across an unusual bank note. Paul was savvy enough to realise that it could be rare and contacted an auction house. It turned out to be a Palestinian £100 note, issued in 1927 and given to high-ranking officials during the time of the British Mandate there. Fewer than ten are known to exist and a reserve of £30,000 was put on it.

When it went under the hammer on April 28th this year at Spink and Son’s auction house in Bloomsbury it sold for £140,000 netting the charity a tidy profit.

Spare a thought for the unfortunate donor. The moral of the story is always check what you give or throw away.