Decimal Day - 40 Years Ago Today

[TheEnd]

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/qu...

What could be simpler?

[Balmoral Green]

I remember it well. I went to fetch my pocket money from my dad at the butchers shop where he worked, a threepenny bit, then I went to the newsagents and bought a Yogi Bear comic, and got a shiny new two pence piece in change. Decimal was no problem as everything I'd been taught in Primary school was decimal, tens and units and so on, so as far as measurements are concerned, I was fully metric anyway. I was just a touch too young to have used old money to any great extent. It does sound bloody complicated old money does.

[Rugbyman]

TheEnd said:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/qu...

What could be simpler?

Simples ........... ( jeeez )

[Eric Mc]

Rugbyman said:

GetCarter said:

Try harder.

Yes dad

Anyway back on topic

Was a florin a 2 shilling bit ? or a 10p piece ? confused

Both.

There were 240 old pence in a pound.

There were 12 old pence in a shilling

Therefore, there were 24 old pence in 2 shillings.

A Florin was two shillings.

Therefore, as 240 divided by 24 = 10, 2 shillings in old money translated directly into 10p in new money.

For many years, the old two shilling piece and the original 10p piece were of a similar size and consistency. In Ireland, the new 10p piece was IDENTICAL to their old 2 shilling/Florin piece - it even had teh same image on it.

It was only in more recent years that the 10p piece was reduced in size.

[Matt Harper]

GetCarter said:

Prompted by this thread, I just dug out a shed load of old currency I still have... half crowns, florins, tanners, crowns, threepenny bits, farthings etc.

Worth bu66er all of course... but I'd forgotten how big/heavy the coins were! The crowns are massive.

Edited by GetCarter on Tuesday 15th February 15:32

What? Wait...Huh?
One of my long-dead grandparents bequeathed me and my brothers/sisters a silver Crown minted when Sir Winston snuffed-it. When I left home, I was somewhat laissez-faire about this monstrous coin bearing Churchill's mug, but my Mum told me to treasure and keep it, as some day it would be worth a lot of money...
I assumed that it would comfortably fund my retirement, is this not so?????

[Eric Mc]

I wouldn't rely on that.

[Laurel Green]

Matt Harper said:

Churchill's mug, but my Mum told me to treasure and keep it, as some day it would be worth a lot of money...
I assumed that it would comfortably fund my retirement, is this not so?????

Don't know of the value but, I have a few of those too. Also a tea-caddy full of three penny bits.

[CDP]

Rugbyman said:

Eric Mc said:

I blame the change of currency on the demise of writing and spelling. Our brains started turning to mush after 1971.

Agreed ...... I was only 5 at the time and the old system seems so complicated .... thank the lord for 100 pence = £1 etc ....... wasnt a guinea 105 P ? WTF !!!!

IIRC it is still used in livestock auctions and the horse racing set. The buyer pays in Guineas and the seller gets Pounds.

[eldar]

Laurel Green said:

Don't know of the value but, I have a few of those too. Also a tea-caddy full of three penny bits.

£3 to £5, unless its a specimen unarticulated, then maybe £3 to £4 hundred.

http://www.winstonchurchillshop.co.uk/product_info...

[skene]

I can barely remember the fking millenium!

[Laurel Green]

eldar said:

£3 to £5, unless its a specimen unarticulated, then maybe £3 to £4 hundred.

http://www.winstonchurchillshop.co.uk/product_info...

Thanks for that!

[honestbob]

I often look back and wish I had exchanged all my money for the old halfpenny coins. Why?

Because they were 1" diameter and 1/16" thick. So for just £1 you would have had 480 of them and that would be a solid stack of copper 30" lg !!!! Come on down Mr Srap man.

[Morningside]

^^^ honestbob - Thats a pre-decimal name there. Perhaps you should be called Honest5p
Christ. Never thought of scrap value of old coins

Nice link of old coinage:
http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/money.htm

Edited by Morningside on Tuesday 15th February 19:14

[HOGEPH]

Off topic, but I still do all my measuring in feet and inches.

[tenex]

Laurel Green said:

Don't know of the value but, I have a few of those too. Also a tea-caddy full of three penny bits.

Used to collect these too. IIRC correctly 1937 is the very valuable date. Something to do with abdications etc.
1933 penny and 1928 Half- crown. were worth a bit too.
I got a good 2 bob bit 1949? My brother nicked it to get 10 No.6 !
Ahhhhhhh. The good old days.

[cazzer]

I still do and always will do, call 50p ten bob.

Wound me up not so long ago when the McDonalds advert said a pound was sometimes known as a bob....no it wasn't and never bloody had been. Sad 20 year old in an advertising department.

[southpaw]

40 years ago...I was -19 years old.

You old bds.

[HUW JONES]

still don't "get" the new money...

[kVA]

Rugbyman said:

Agreed ...... I was only 5 at the time and the old system seems so complicated .... thank the lord for 100 pence = £1 etc ....... wasnt a guinea 105 P ? WTF !!!!

That is one of the few things that actually made sense in old money - a guinea was one pound and one shilling and, as someone else said, for every guinea a racehorse was sold for, the auctioneer got the shilling and the seller got the pound (i.e. 5%)

I still have a card game called 'Sum It' which was brought out to make it fun for people to get used to the new currency... Found it the other day and it's in quite good condition - probably worth loads more than the money it describes!

[Gokartmozart]

Remember it well, was 12 at the time.

when shopping with my parents in John Lewis with a poor old dear on the till, took around 10 minutes sorting out the change.

Don't forget the "new" 5 & 10p coins were aleady in circulation from 1968 I think.

I used to love having a 10 bob note when I was younger felt like being a millionaire.