Harry Kane fivers estimated at over £50,000 each on the loose
Melanie May | 3 August 2018 | News
Birmingham micro-engraver Graham Short has released a new set of notes, engraved with the portrait of footballer Harry Kane.
Short last engraved Jane Austen’s portrait on a series of £5 notes that were then estimated to be worth over £20,000 each, and first shot to global fame when his engraving of a portrait of HM The Queen on the eye of a needle fetched over £100,000 at auction. He has produced numerous pieces of engraved artwork for royalty, celebrities and art collectors here and around the world, as well as the Jane Austen £5 notes marking the 200th anniversary of her death.
After Harry Kane picked up the Golden Boot at this summer’s FIFA World Cup, leading England to the semi-finals, Short decided to repeat the feat with Kane’s portrait.
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To create the engravings, Short only works between midnight and 5am, when traffic vibrations are at their most limited and he can bring his heart-rate down to 30 beats per minute, as he engraves between beats. He also has botox injections and binds his right arm to a chair to reduce body movement.
He said:
“I’ve done six – one for each goal he scored – for Harry himself, the FA and four to be spent as we did with the Jane Austen notes around the UK and Ireland.”
Originally estimated to have a value of around £20,000 each, by Thursday 3 July, the media was estimating their worth to be around £50,000. Three of the notes have been spent: in Meriden, in the centre of England, in Edinburgh’s Elephant House: the coffee shop where JK Rowling started writing about Harry Potter, and in Merthyr Tydfil, with the fourth to be spent in Northern Ireland.
At around £50,000 each, they could be a nice earner for a charity. The hunt is on….
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.