A £10 note minted two centuries ago in Worcester could fetch up to 40 times its face value when it is auctioned in London next month.

The valuable tenner was issued by the now defunct Worcester Bank on November 1, 1792, when King George III was on the throne.

Lloyds TSB is now believed to occupy the site of the bank at The Cross, although some experts suggest the issuer was the Worcester Old Bank, on the corner of High Street and Bank Street - near to Debenhams.

The black and white note bears the coat of arms of five prominent traders of the time - Glover, Edwards, Enbury, Cross and Benbow - on the top left hand corner.

Barnaby Faull, bank notes expert for auctioneers Spink, where the note is going under the hammer, said by the late 18th Century, most provincial towns had their own banks to avoid having to ship currency in from the capital by stagecoach.

"All the towns in this country used to make their own bank notes between about 1790 and 1830-40," he said.

"At the time, it was very difficult to get notes from the Bank of England, and using coin was dangerous - either in terms of the highwaymen operating or, in the same way as today, you don't want to be carrying lots of coins around.

"Provincial banks were set up by wealthy merchants - some of the names on the note will be famous merchants of the time.

"People would take notes to them knowing they'd be good for some money, but they'd be worthless outside Worcester, because no one would know who they were."

By the 1840s, the economy had fallen on hard times and the provincial banks folded.

Some towns still boast a number of notes dating back to the period. Worcester, he said, has very few remaining.

"These notes are quite lovely and very popular, but they're also very rare," added Mr Faull.

The World Banknotes auction, which features hundreds of lots from British towns as far afield as Sheerness, Nottingham and Windsor, is due to take place on Friday, October 4.

The Worcester £10 is expected to fetch between £300 and £400 at Spink in Southampton Row, Bloomsbury.