A British citizen found a banknote of 100 Palestinian pounds in a charity store, and drew his attention to its strangeness, but he did not expect it to sell for 1,400 times its value.
The rare paper currency is among less than ten notes of the same value that are known to exist. It was issued to high-ranking officers during the British Mandate of Palestine in 1927, and was sold for 140,000 pounds (about 175,000 US dollars).
And the citizen, Paul Maiman, was working for the charity “Oxfam” as a donor when he found the 100 Palestinian pound note inside a box containing donated items.
He then decided to contact one of the auction houses, where experts assessed the value of the paper currency as being worth 30 thousand pounds, but it was sold for 140 thousand pounds when it was offered by the auction house “Spink in London.
Paul commented, “I realized that I had in my hands an incredibly rare and precious piece. I can’t believe it sold for that much.”
It was carried in a box by an anonymous donor to the charity store in October 2020 and it was subjected to auctions at the auction house in February 2022.
Paul followed the auction process online from his home last April and confirmed that it was initially offered for 30 thousand pounds, and added that he thought at first that it might be a counterfeit because it is a very rare coin.