New £5 note worth £50k is found after cafe manager gave it away

A rare £5 note worth up to £50,000 which was accidentally given away by a café manager has been found.

The new plastic fiver had been engraved with a tiny portrait of Jane Austen by acclaimed artist Graham Short, who is famous for his miniature pieces worth thousands of pounds.

The artist embellished four notes which he decided to put into circulation in each of the four countries in the UK.

But when he spent the unique note at a café in the small village of Blackwood, south Wales, in exchange for a sausage and egg sandwich, Mr Short forgot to tell staff about the valuable engraving.

By the time Mr Short realised what had happened, the unique fiver had already unknowingly been given to another customer as change.

The café customer - and new lucky owner - of the precious note has since been found in south Wales, the BBC reported.

She wants to remain anonymous but plans to give the fiver to her granddaughter to invest for when she grows up.

70-year-old Mr Short only engraved four notes in total – with one of each being spent in Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland.

The others have not yet been discovered.

Mr Short’s work usually sells for about £100,000 and the notes were insured for £50,000 each.

He said: "Now, I’m just hoping someone finds it in time to get some extra money for Christmas.”