Rare banknotes are expected to make a pretty penny at auction

An undated 10 note emblazoned with the words "Leeds Old Bank" is set to fetch between 300 and 400 while an 1824 Leeds Union Bank 1 note is valued at between 200 and 300.

The 10 note is a proof and therefore never issued.

Three Leeds Commercial Bank 1 notes, from 1809 and 1811, will be sold together in one lot for an estimated 120 to 180.

All notes will be auctioned at Spink in Bloomsbury, London, on Wednesday next week.

Leeds printed its own money from the late 1700s until the early 1900s. Like other towns and cities in Britain, it started doing this when it was too difficult and dangerous to bring in big sums of cash from London.

In the 19th century, Leeds had at least five privately-owned banks all issuing their own money.

Barnaby Faull, head of the banknotes department at auctioneers Spink, said: "All towns and cities in Britain used to issue their own banknotes.

"Merchants would get together and start up their own banks, but their notes, which were like IOUs, could only be used locally." The Leeds Union Bank 1 note was issued on March 20,1824, and is described by Spink as rare and in "very good, presentable" condition.

In recent years the notes produced by English provincial bank have become sought-after and increasingly valuable.

In 2003, a "very rare" 19th century Leeds and West Riding Banking Company 50 proof was expected to sell for between 400 and 500, but in the end it fetched 897.