I remember us getting the smaller 5p coin in 1990, but there are some
things I can't remember. What did shop assistants do with the two coin
sizes? Were they stored in the same slot in the till? Presumably they
were not bagged together, so whose job was it to sort the old coins
from the new? The banks' or the shops' ? And then presumably the Royal
Mint would arrange for the old coins to be transported to them from
the banks.

Presumably the old shillings still circulated up to this point. Did
anybody take any notice of what proportion could still be found in
change? Was it a reasonably common or rare event to be given one in
change?

Adam.

In a recent message  adam_swansbury@yahoo.com wrote:

> I remember us getting the smaller 5p coin in 1990, but there are some
> things I can't remember. What did shop assistants do with the two coin
> sizes? Were they stored in the same slot in the till?

Presumably.

> Presumably they
> were not bagged together, so whose job was it to sort the old coins
> from the new? The banks' or the shops' ? 

The shops.

> And then presumably the Royal
> Mint would arrange for the old coins to be transported to them from
> the banks.

Yes.

> 
> Presumably the old shillings still circulated up to this point. Did
> anybody take any notice of what proportion could still be found in
> change? Was it a reasonably common or rare event to be given one in
> change?

Reasonably common.  Out of five pounds' worth (100) you would probably have
as many as 20 to 30.


-- 
Tony Clayton           tony.clayton.1962@pem.cam.ac.uk
Coins of the UK      : http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk
Sent using RISCOS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... "Bother", said Pooh, as the pin fell out the grenade

"Tony Clayton"  wrote in message news:e6f8dafe4e%
>
> Reasonably common.  Out of five pounds' worth (100) you would probably 
> have
> as many as 20 to 30.
>


The shillings were minted in huge numbers dated 1966 and especially 1967, 
because the last one was a frozen date that was minted until 1969 or 1970.

On Jul 7, 10:22 pm, Tony Clayton  wrote:

> > Presumably the old shillings still circulated up to this point. Did
> > anybody take any notice of what proportion could still be found in
> > change? Was it a reasonably common or rare event to be given one in
> > change?
>
> Reasonably common.  Out of five pounds' worth (100) you would probably have
> as many as 20 to 30.

That's a surprising proportion. I do have a memory of coming across
them fairly often at that late date, but I can never trust my memory
and thought I must have dreamt it. I do remember being surprised at
the tiddly little coin with which the Mint replaced the old 5p.

I read in an old post that 5p nowadays is in real terms worth roughly
what a farthing was in 1959. That's amazing if true, considering that
a farthing was one 960th of a pound. 5p is nominally equivalent to a
shilling, which was of course worth 48 farthings. Yet according to a
chart I was looking at, by 2003 (as far as the chart went) a pound was
worth a fifteenth of its 1959 value in real terms - not one 48th. And
inflation has increased relatively little since 2003.

According to this same chart, the value of our currency has halved
since 1984, the year in which we demonetised the decimal halfpenny. So
in theory we could now demonetise our penny and price things in
multiples of twos, i.e. only even numbers of pence. In practice we
couldn't, of course, so long as we have the 5p. If something cost 54p
and you tendered a 50p coin and a 5p coin, you wouldn't get any
change. And there WOULD always be people who complained about this.

I suppose in practice the Mint could withdraw the 5p along with the
penny and introduce a 4p coin so you didn't accumulate too many 2p
coins, which are way too large for what they're worth anyway. So the
2p and 4p would one way or another always give you the right change.
4p would be a strange denomination, but in Russia and Armenia I
believe they have some 3 unit coins, and the Bahamas even has a 15c
coin. But come the withdrawal of the 2p, you'd have the problem that
not all coins, e.g. the 10p, are multiples of 4. And on it would go.

I note that New Zealand has recently demonetised its 5c coin, so now
the 10c coin is the lowest unit available. Interestingly, 10 NZ cents
are currently worth roughly 4p in UK money. Imagine pricing everything
in steps of 4p here. You'd have pensioners committing suicide en
masse. Of course, logically you'd get rid of the 1p and 2p and price
everything in 5p steps here. If we were bold enough to do it, I don't
actually think many people would complain, and it would solve all the
problems associated with a 1p withdrawal only.

I've read that Singapore is planning to mint no more one cent coins.
It is not however going to demonetise them but allow them to remain,
dwindlingly, in circulation. So that's tantamount to a death sentence
for the coin anyway.

Now then, how did I get from there to here?

Adam.

In a recent message "Sibirskmoneta"  wrote:

> 
> "Tony Clayton"  wrote in message news:e6f8dafe4e%
> >
> > Reasonably common.  Out of five pounds' worth (100) you would probably 
> > have
> > as many as 20 to 30.
> >
> 
> 
> The shillings were minted in huge numbers dated 1966 and especially 1967, 
> because the last one was a frozen date that was minted until 1969 or 1970. 

If you can find a 1967 shilling, do please send it on to me!!!

The last date of shilling minted was 1966. About 15 million of each type were
minted, which, although moderate, is by no means the highest total for QE2
shillings (over 45 million for 1955E).

Fewer 1967 florins were minted than 1966 florins.

Both these denominations were replaced by 5p and 10p coins dated 1968 on
in the run up to decimalisation.

The really high 1967 mintages were sixpence (240 million) 3d (151 million)
1d (540 million) and halfpenny (100 million)

-- 
Tony Clayton           tony.clayton.1962@pem.cam.ac.uk
Coins of the UK      : http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk
Sent using RISCOS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... Happiness: a perfume you can't give away without getting some yourself.

In a recent message  adam_swansbury@yahoo.com wrote:

> On Jul 7, 10:22 pm, Tony Clayton  wrote:
> 
> > > Presumably the old shillings still circulated up to this point. Did
> > > anybody take any notice of what proportion could still be found in
> > > change? Was it a reasonably common or rare event to be given one in
> > > change?
> >
> > Reasonably common.  Out of five pounds' worth (100) you would probably have
> > as many as 20 to 30.
> 
> That's a surprising proportion. I do have a memory of coming across
> them fairly often at that late date, but I can never trust my memory
> and thought I must have dreamt it. I do remember being surprised at
> the tiddly little coin with which the Mint replaced the old 5p.
> 
> I read in an old post that 5p nowadays is in real terms worth roughly
> what a farthing was in 1959. That's amazing if true, considering that
> a farthing was one 960th of a pound. 5p is nominally equivalent to a
> shilling, which was of course worth 48 farthings. Yet according to a
> chart I was looking at, by 2003 (as far as the chart went) a pound was
> worth a fifteenth of its 1959 value in real terms - not one 48th. And
> inflation has increased relatively little since 2003.
> 
> According to this same chart, the value of our currency has halved
> since 1984, the year in which we demonetised the decimal halfpenny. So
> in theory we could now demonetise our penny and price things in
> multiples of twos, i.e. only even numbers of pence. In practice we
> couldn't, of course, so long as we have the 5p. If something cost 54p
> and you tendered a 50p coin and a 5p coin, you wouldn't get any
> change. And there WOULD always be people who complained about this.
> 

Far more logical to do away with the 'coppers' and go straight to multiples of 5p.

> I suppose in practice the Mint could withdraw the 5p along with the
> penny and introduce a 4p coin so you didn't accumulate too many 2p
> coins, which are way too large for what they're worth anyway. So the
> 2p and 4p would one way or another always give you the right change.
> 4p would be a strange denomination, but in Russia and Armenia I
> believe they have some 3 unit coins, and the Bahamas even has a 15c
> coin. But come the withdrawal of the 2p, you'd have the problem that
> not all coins, e.g. the 10p, are multiples of 4. And on it would go.
> 
> I note that New Zealand has recently demonetised its 5c coin, so now
> the 10c coin is the lowest unit available. Interestingly, 10 NZ cents
> are currently worth roughly 4p in UK money. Imagine pricing everything
> in steps of 4p here. You'd have pensioners committing suicide en
> masse. 
  
What nonsense.  I am a pensioner, and yet given the size of a typical bill
when I go shopping (or buy fuel) makes rounding to the nearest 5p a trivial
difference.

Next week, when you buy ANYTHING, note the size of the bill and round it
to the nearest 5p. If it rounds down by 1 or 2p, put the 1 or 2p in a 
separate pocket.  If it rounds up, take it out of your pocket.

I do not imagine that you will be more than a few pence out, one way or 
the other, at the end of the week.

To our US brethren, for 1p read 1c.


> Of course, logically you'd get rid of the 1p and 2p and price
> everything in 5p steps here. If we were bold enough to do it, I don't
> actually think many people would complain, and it would solve all the
> problems associated with a 1p withdrawal only.

I see you have now come round to my way of thinking!

> 
> I've read that Singapore is planning to mint no more one cent coins.
> It is not however going to demonetise them but allow them to remain,
> dwindlingly, in circulation. So that's tantamount to a death sentence
> for the coin anyway.

I think that is effectively what happened to the 1c and 2c in New Zealand.
When I was there the only place I saw the bronze coins was in junk shops.

-- 
Tony Clayton           tony.clayton.1962@pem.cam.ac.uk
Coins of the UK      : http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk
Sent using RISCOS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... WindowError:00F Unexplained error. Please tell us how it happened.

adam_swansbury@yahoo.com wrote:
> I read in an old post that 5p nowadays is in real terms worth roughly
> what a farthing was in 1959. That's amazing if true, considering that
> a farthing was one 960th of a pound. 5p is nominally equivalent to a
> shilling, which was of course worth 48 farthings. Yet according to a
> chart I was looking at, by 2003 (as far as the chart went) a pound was
> worth a fifteenth of its 1959 value in real terms - not one 48th. And
> inflation has increased relatively little since 2003.

I work on the postage rate inflation index. I know the basic postage 
rate was 1.5d in the 40s, and 4d by about 1963. So since 1959 it's 
gone up 30-40 fold, as the first class rate is now 34p.

> According to this same chart, the value of our currency has halved
> since 1984, the year in which we demonetised the decimal halfpenny.

First class postage in 1984: 15.5 or 16p. So double is about right.

I'd say lose everything below 5p and have done with it.

Colin McKenzie

-- 
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at 
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as 
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

"Tony Clayton"  wrote in message 
news:ff959ff4e%tony@tclayton.demon.co.uk...
> In a recent message "Sibirskmoneta"  wrote:
>
>>
>> "Tony Clayton"  wrote in message 
>> news:e6f8dafe4e%
>> >
>> > Reasonably common.  Out of five pounds' worth (100) you would probably
>> > have
>> > as many as 20 to 30.
>> >
>>
>>
>> The shillings were minted in huge numbers dated 1966 and especially 1967,
>> because the last one was a frozen date that was minted until 1969 or 
>> 1970.
>
> If you can find a 1967 shilling, do please send it on to me!!!
>
Well I don't have any, but I do have the ultra rare 1970's, several of them 
in various flavours too, Anglish, Scawttish etc.

"Tony Clayton"  wrote in message

> To our US brethren, for 1p read 1c.
>
Nah, come on, we all know that your 1p is worth our 2¢ nowadays with the 
dollar becoming a third world currency.  Just my 2¢ worth.:)