A rare £5 note engraved with the image of Harry Kane’s face that could be worth up to £50,000 has been spent in an off licence in Wales.
Micro-engraver Graham Short has produced six of the notes and this is one of four he has put into general circulation.
The artist chose a shop in Merthyr Tydfil near where his father was born and said the shopkeeper didn’t notice the image and handed it to another customer in their change.
He said: “I wanted someone [in Merthyr] to find it who perhaps needed the money, and they can perhaps sell it for whatever - holidays or Christmas.
“It’s just a bit of fun, but it also puts my art beyond the walls of a gallery. My art sells for a lot of money now and it’s really out of reach for most people.
“But if they find this and sell it and make a lot of money, I’ll be really pleased with that.”
Short chose Kane after he captained England to the World Cup semi-finals. One of the notes will go to Kane himself and another to the Football Association.
And if you’re not in Wales anytime soon then you still have a chance of coming across one.
Short said: “I spent the first Harry Kane note in Meriden, which is the centre of England, only a few miles from the M40 and M42, and so that note could travel in any direction.
“Now I’ve just been to Edinburgh and spent one in the Elephant House in Edinburgh, the coffee shop where JK Rowling first went as a young mum and started writing about Harry Potter. I just liked the magical feeling of that.
“The Northern Ireland note is still to be spent.”
Short uses needles to etch images on banknotes and his previous work with the image of Jane Austen was valued at £20,000 - £50,000.
The unique engravings can only be seen in certain lights with the author’s picture positioned on the transparent part of the plastic note next to the images of Winston Churchill and Big Ben.
Short’s engraving of the Queen on a pinhead fecthed £100,000 at auction.