The Old Currency - Do you remember it?

[summer1955 10]

i remember when decimal first came in 1971 i was working at a post office but on the side that sold sweets tobacco toys and houshold goods

 

cheepest fags were park drive tipped 5 for 5 new pence

a lot of old people just gave you some money and asked you to take out what it was or asked you what was the old price

[DragonofAna 10]

Forgive me in my old years for being so forgetful but surely there were more than 4 half crowns to a pound? I seem to recall a half crown being 2 and 6 which whould make it 30 pennies and 4 of them is only 120 - not 240.

 

Perhaps my memory being silly? Ee by eck what you couldn't get for a ten bob note in those days. And they weren't your piddling little notes either - they actually felt like money, like you had something worthwhile in your pocket.

 

And who has forgotten the old silver thruppeny bit?

 

Jeze! We are so old

 

Dragon

[Saxon 10]

Originally posted by Dragon

Forgive me in my old years for being so forgetful but surely there were more than 4 half crowns to a pound? I seem to recall a half crown being 2 and 6 which whould make it 30 pennies and 4 of them is only 120 - not 240.

 

Perhaps my memory being silly? Ee by eck what you couldn't get for a ten bob note in those days. And they weren't your piddling little notes either - they actually felt like money, like you had something worthwhile in your pocket.

 

And who has forgotten the old silver thruppeny bit?

 

Jeze! We are so old

 

Dragon

 

Yep - 8 half crowns to the £

[Saxon 10]

By the way, I collect coins and have some of the following which I doubt anyone here will ever have used.

 

Third of a farthing

Groat

Half sovereign

Sovereign

Double florin

[LordChaverly 10]

I doubt very much also if anyone here has used the groat, since it has not been in circulation in the UK since the mid-nineteenth century (although a Maundy groat was issued in 1922 for use in Maundy ceremonies only) and the groat was used in British Guiana until the late nineteenth century.

 

I like the name though, so perhaps someone could launch a 'bring back the groat' campaign.

[Grissom 10]

Don't remember too much except for the half pennies

 

It's freaky having seen this thread - just been reading about the Royal Mint competition to come up with new designs for the 1,2,5,10,20 and 50 p coins that havent changed much since they came out [most are late 1960s pre-decimalisation designs]

 

http://www.royalmint.gov.uk/RoyalMint/web/site/Corporate/Corp_pr/OpenDesignCompetition.asp

 

There is 30,000 quid up for grabs. Hope they don't pay the prize money in old pound notes !

[Greybeard 10]

Originally posted by Dragon

Perhaps my memory being silly? Ee by eck what you couldn't get for a ten bob note in those days. And they weren't your piddling little notes either - they actually felt like money, like you had something worthwhile in your pocket.

 

And who has forgotten the old silver thruppeny bit?

 

I had forgotten the silver thruppeny bit. They weren't very common after the war as most of them were withdrawn because of the high silver content. We used to save the few we came across to put in the Christmas pudding.

 

For a ten bob note you could get well oiled when beer was a shilling a pint

 

Max-I'd check through those sixpences, - I've an idea that any with a date up to 1926 had a high silver content. Saxon might know for sure.

[scout 10]

My mum gave me an old silver threepenny bit to 'walk' on (put it in my shoe) as a sign of wealth and prosperity. I don't know about the wealth but I'm still here!

[scout 10]

Forgot the important bit! To put in my shoe when I got married!

[LoopyLou 10]

glad you clarified that - i had visions of you walking around with a coin in your shoe permanently!

 

 

 

Tony:

As a coin collector i'm sure you already know this but......

a friend of mine was caught out recently when burgled for not having named her coin collection on the house insurance. Her insurance policy had a clause that imposed a limited pay out for cash kept on the premises and they considered part of her collection as legal tender and therefore subject to this limitation. They refused to replace it.

 

Loopy.

[pete_fcs 11]

i was two when it came in. i don't remember old pennies, but i do remember seeing the new one pence for the first time.

 

older brother (aged four) was showing it off as he headed off for school. it had that criss-cross gate on it, which for some reason i thought was a picture of a prison!

 

two years later i started at greystones school and spent a penny a day on a bag of sherbert from an old shop on tullibardine road...

[redrobbo 10]

Originally posted by LordChaverly

I doubt very much also if anyone here has used the groat, since it has not been in circulation in the UK since the mid-nineteenth century

 

I think you may forgetting Owdlad!