BS: uk pre decimal money

Subject: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 03:52 PM

A friend of mine who hasn't got much money revealed to me that she had in her possession some pre decimal coins. occasionally i seem to see this stuff on craft and antique stalls. does anyone know where she could raise a few quid for her old coinage?

I thought someone on mudcat would know.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Raggytash
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 04:10 PM

I suspect Al that unless it is in pristine condition she won't get very much for it........... unless she has a good deal if it.

Mint condition coins are sought after, others tend to be worth a pittance.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 04:53 PM

If I knew a joke about Mike Pence,
I'd post it here.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: robomatic
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 05:47 PM

My first trip to England I was exposed to the 'old' system. Being young and alert and mathematical, I found it not only quaint but a lot of fun. Explained a lot of the references from Dickens and Conan Doyle and The Goons.
The very next year they'd shifted to the New Pence and the decimal system and a lot of the small prices hadn't changed, I don't remember specifically which ones, but possibly tube entrance was the same number New Pence as it had been Old. Which meant a 140% boost in real value.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Joe_F
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 09:31 PM

When I was in Britain (1958-1959), one still had the amusement of calculating the tip on a restaurant bill of 2 pounds, 7 shillings, & fourpence, and, when traveling, of heavy pocketfuls of pennies, of which a pay phone needed four. The pennies & halfpennies were not only large but remarkably long-lived; ones with Queen Victoria on them were not uncommon.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 11:11 PM

Some of us in the US collect a subset of the old UK coinage. I have crowns, half crowns and florins. There is a large market for sovereigns and guinas (Sp?) but most others cost more to mail or ship than they are worth. An Angel would be nice to get!

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: BobL
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 02:48 AM

Any quiz question involving pre-decimal coinage is a gift for the over-sixties...

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: DMcG
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 02:53 AM

Indeed, BobL. When I look back at my primary school education it is quite horrifying just how much of the time was spent adding lists of pounds, shillings and pence together and then sharing them between three or more fictitious characters.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 04:21 AM

Have a look on Ebay, Al. Doesn't look like your friend will make a lot I'm afraid.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 11:52 AM

42 pounds 16 shillings and seven pence three farthings multiplied by seventeen.

oh! the fun we had! It wasn't all free milk and Singing Together....

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 12:17 PM

A system built on twelves makes a lot more sense than a system built on tens. You can divide 10 only by 2 and 5. You can divide 12 by 2, 3, 4 and 6.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Raggytash
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 12:22 PM

Personally Steve I can divide 12 by 5 !!!!

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 01:27 PM

so which king was it had 12 toes then...???

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 02:20 PM

I can divide 12 by 5

You can indeed and it makes the average amount of children! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 02:51 PM

twelve toes...not a clue!

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 03:15 PM

Al - i don't know either...

But aint that how we used to get our weights and measures...???

the number, size, and girth of royal appendages...

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 03:29 PM

Ten toes and two bollocks. That should cut it.


Oh...hang on...

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 03:42 PM

Steve, Steve, Steve! I've been looking for a non serious thread that you were on so I could make two Morrisons recommendations

Cornish Camembert and Mossers signature Barbera D'Asti. Both bought from the Swinton store today and both sublime. I have now retired so not even on a bonus :-)

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 03:48 PM

Oh, and lightly salted tortilla chips but they are not quite in the same league.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Raggytash
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 03:50 PM

Congratulation on your retirement Dave, however I hope you realise that you will now be classed as part of the great unwashed sponging off the government by some on here.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 03:56 PM

I am a proud unemployed benefit scrounger, Raggy :-D

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 04:17 PM

'Rule Britannia,
Two tanners make a bob,
Three make eighteen pence,
And four two bob.'

Hope that makes everything clear....

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 04:21 PM

An older relative gave each of us kids in the family
a plastic commemorative presentation case displaying all the new coins..

Obviously I prized them all out and spent 'em...

Parents weren't too happy when they found out...

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 05:19 PM

Steve Shaw is perfectly correct that a numerical system based on twelves would make a lot more sense than our system based on tens.

We would of course have to invent two new symbols to represent the numerals ten and eleven.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 05:23 PM

Cheers, Murray!

Rusty, I learned it as:

'Rule Britannia,
Two tanners make a bob,
Three make one-and-six
And four two bob.'

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 05:39 PM

check the dates

silver before 1947 contained silver - can't remember how much. But are worth finding out about, maybe 40 times face value depending on the price of silver.


Pre 1920 the silver content was even higher 92.5% - Sterling Silver - hence the appellation to UK currency "Sterling".

Before decimalisation you could still find the odd coin of silver instead of cupro-nickel. I used to check - always.

Some coins were issued without the date, they are probably worth a little.

see Gaurdian article

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 08:41 PM

When I were a lad we'd always check our small change for rarities. Pennies dated 1912 that had a letter H next to the date were sought after, as were 1918H and 1919KN pennies. 1950 pennies, and especially 1951 pennies, were seen as quite valuable. Very few 1933 pennies were ever struck and you'd be quids-in big time if you found one, though you might have to demolish the foundations of a bridge to find it...

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: robomatic
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 11:34 AM

A system of ten when you've got a ten based numerical system makes sense. You can divide ten by any of the numbers.... just go into decimals. Man up, man!

I thought the ha'pnees and farthings and all was a lot of fun when I was there, though. And the weirdness in big heavy coins with small value, the itty bitty sixpence,etc.

Someday we'll look back on foot-pounds feet and miles with the same sense of disbelief.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 11:48 AM

Brian may used silver sixpenny bits as plectrums...

That's why they might be harder to find and more expensive to collect...
Millions of his fan boys need to copy his gear...

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 12:32 PM

The information above about silver content is good (except 'sterling' silver coins are 1920 and earlier, so pre-1921)

You used to be able to get eight pounds for 1920 pennies. (but that was mathematical value, not rarity value)

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Raggytash
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 03:03 PM

Nice one Nigel!!

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 11:09 AM

robomatic ...
But what's the big deal with dividing by ten?

If we used base twelve(two extra symbols) then dividing by twelve would be the big deal. People would say "Wise up, man, just move the duodecimal point."
;)

It won't happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've got a Japanese import vehicle,
odometer in km.
I buy petrol in litres.
! I still want to know how many miles it does to the gallon.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 04:08 PM

16 ounces to the pound, 14 pounds to the stone
12 inches to the foot, 3 feet to the yard, 22 yards to the chain, 220 yards to the furlong, 8 furlongs one mile.
12 pennies to the shilling, 20 shillings to the pound.
Back in pre-decimal, and pre-metric, days children learnt their times tables, and needed to know how to use them.

Even Europeans seem to sell eggs by the dozen (easier to pack), but we used to know that if an egg was threepence, then a dozen was three shillings.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 10 Jul 19 - 07:06 PM

You can divide 10 by three but you need an infinitely long piece of paper to write the answer down.

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Jul 19 - 07:57 PM

3 1/3?

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 12:15 PM

or, in decimal notation, 3.33^..

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 12:19 PM

or, in practical terms - go on then, let's round it down to threepence...

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 01:57 PM

You can divide 10 by three but you need an infinitely long piece of paper to write the answer down.

Simples. the answer is: "3 ...... Now what am I bid for this beautiful lonely item .................?"

Or is it "3 and carry one" - sort of cash and carry...........




I'll get my money bag.............

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: JHW
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 03:48 AM

Today's calculators and tills would have no trouble dealing with £sd so we might never have changed.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 04:26 AM

Nigel PRSONS: 16 ounces to the pound, 14 pounds to the stone
12 inches to the foot, 3 feet to the yard, 22 yards to the chain, 220 yards to the furlong, 8 furlongs one mile.
12 pennies to the shilling, 20 shillings to the pound.

I remember when I started doing a bit of programming in the late 70s, trying to explain Hexadecimal and Octal to my mum.....when I finished my explanation she said (in a broad yorkshire accent):

"Oh, that's nowt then, tha coulda sed that it's nobbut ounces ter pahnds and stoans ter 'underdweights".


I reckon those of us brought up on imperial measurements have a lot less trouble with base-shifting than people brought up in an almost purely base-10 world!

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Iains
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 06:04 AM

I remember when I started doing a bit of programming in the late 70s, trying to explain Hexadecimal and Octal to my mum

Oh the joys of inputting 31 lines of bootstrap instructions into an HP 2100 by switching blocks of lights, on the front panel, on and off.
Coupled with a TI keyboard,xy plotter and Linc tape drives it was the bees knees in 1974. The system did not like salt offshore or humidity in the jungle.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 09:12 AM

You had lights & Switches? You wus lucky............

We had to write it down on pre-printed paper and give it to the girls to punch the tape and wait a week to find the mistakes. Ours usually. In 1969 we had access to a mainframe with 16K of core (cf RAM now at 8 & 16 Gb) & we thought we wus luckky until 32K came along...........

Then in 1972 ish we got to program the old 8080 on a developement system with switches and a teletype and punched tape. I learned my first programming lesson in never letting go of the remainders when I found a simple first order filter couldn't get to the asymptote. With a capacitor & resistor the remainder remains on the capacitor, but with integers..................... you still have to carry the remainder for the next iteration. And you know, when I worked for Smiths Industries (aircraft instrumentation) they reported the same problemo and they were gobsmacked when I asked (in a fraction of a second) "what they did with remainder"!

Nothing new under the sun - is there?

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 09:32 AM

Iain : Sounds like you worked in seismic exploration? ??

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 09:38 AM

Back When I was a boy
"We programmed in ones and in zeros"

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Iains
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 05:18 PM

Bob Naylor Related. I was supposedly detecting overpressure on wildcat wells with varying degrees of success. Even with computers it was still
handballing the data on semilog graph paper and tinkering about with best fit. It was early early days for overpressure detection back then and if you got it wrong you took a kick(semi controlled blowout) As a sprog it was quite a challenge to persuade a hairy assed company man to up the mud weight and slow the drilling down on the basis of your gut feeling and a few contentious squiggles on a graph. It was not uncommon to just sitback and wait for the inevitable kick and well control situation. Sometimes they would get away and sink the rig, not that it ever happened to me. But my first intro to not red adair but his band of merry men was a kill well job in the Java sea in late 73
Even with a workstation and fancy software interpretation today is still not 100%, although knowledge and techniques have come on dramatically, and it is a discrete speciality today.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 07:40 PM

Or was it on the checkout tills at Asda? Bwahahaha!

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Jos
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 02:10 AM

A 1933 penny was sold three years ago.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36257107

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Mo the caller
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 05:32 AM

Mr Red. In my first job we didn't use tape. Punched cards, easier to correct / modify. But oh dear, don't drop the pack on the way between office and computer room, especially if it hasn't been interpreted.

Subject: RE: BS: uk pre decimal money
From: Mo the caller
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 05:43 AM

Ireland had predecimal coinage too, and the first time we visited ('68 honeymoon) they would take English coins too, but we kept a few Irish coins, as souvenirs. Next time (silver wedding celebrated with a trip to the Willie Clancy festival) it was punts and decimal coinage, not interchangeable. Though I think some shops took pounds too. We decided we'd be coming again so kept our spare notes. We did go again, but not till '08 and by then you couldn't change punts to Euros in the little local banks. Drat. For a while we hung onto the Euros, but when the Greek crisis blew up I gave them to my daughter to use before that system changed too.