Rare banknotes printed 200 years ago fetched thousands of pounds at auction yesterday

The notes, issued by banks in Brighton, Chichester, Hastings, Rye, Arundel, Bognor, Horsham, East Grinstead and Newhaven, were used as a local option for businessmen in the early 19th Century, when it was difficult to get hold of Bank of England notes.

The £1, £5, £10 and £20 notes were auctioned at Spinks in London.

One very rare £5 note, issued by the East Grinstead Bank, fetched £2,200 - just £800 short of the record for a provincial note, issued in Derbyshire.

The East Grinstead Bank note, printed in black, was issued on May 23, 1815, and has on it the names of bankers John and Andrew Burt. It was expected to fetch up to £1,200.

Barnaby Faull, director of Spinks' bank notes department, said: "A good Sussex note normally fetches between £300 and £700, and all the lots did get a good price.

"But the £2,200 fetched for the East Grinstead note is a very impressive figure.

"Wealthy merchants would form their own banks because they couldn't get access to the Bank of England as transport was tricky in those days and people didn't want to walk around with gold coins in their pockets.

"It was much more simple to have local notes for local use only. As long as the banks had money then the notes would be honoured."

Yesterday's lot of 23 Sussex notes was the biggest ever in an auction. All were from the same private collector who lives in the area.

They bore names including the Arundel Bank, Brightelmston Bank, Sussex County Bank, Brighton Royal Bank, Brighton Union Bank, Chichester Old Bank and Hastings Old Bank.