Palestine banknote sold for almost $100,000

Al Arabiya reports: "An Arab buyer in London has paid £65,000 (almost $100,000) for a rare Palestinian banknote that was auctioned this week in the British capital. The note, which was offered by Spink Auctions on Thursday, appeared for the first time in 40 years and was on sale with another 1,690 rare notes, many of them Palestinian.

The notes go back to the years between 1929 and 1944, before the creation of the state of Israel. Many of the other notes were from the Gulf, some dating back to the early stage of the Saudi Arabian state and others issued from Qatar, Dubai, and Kuwait. The 100-pound Palestinian note, issued in 1929, is extremely rare and has attracted great attention at the auction, Ayman Abdou, an expert in rare banknotes said this week.

“The price which the note was sold at is not actually that expensive,” he told Al Arabiya. “At the time, this note could have bought an entire plot of land in the most beautiful parts of Palestine,” Abdou said. Abdou also said the note was particularly special because it remained in good condition, adding that its serial number is “A000000. The notes that have zeros are usually very rare. They are printed to be distributed amongst central banks across the world. This means it had been rare since the day it was issued,” he said.

Spink did not name the names of its sellers and buyers for confidentiality, and so the identity of the Arab buyer has not been revealed. Hundreds of people from the Gulf come to London every year to take part in auctions, according to the executive director of Spink, Barnaby Faull. “They are usually interested in rare objects that come from different parts of the world. People from Qatar and Dubai in particular are mainly interested rare banknotes,” he told Al Arabiya."