4 ms·

Its not that long ago we still had 3d etc. 1/4 penny, 1/2 penny here in the uk. Thrupenny bit.

SomewhatLikely 7y ago
It's not that long ago we left the gold standard.
dan-robertson 7y ago
We still had ha’pennies after decimalisation. Even before, the pennies weren’t worth what they used to be. In parts of the nineteenth century a penny would be worth something on the order of what 50p is worth today. I guess with money stored largely in bank accounts and financial instruments, inflation becomes a more reasonable thing and the fact that it’s annoying to buy things with physical money matters less. Yet even at the start of the twentieth century banknotes could be worth a lot more than anything today (in the U.K. you only go up to £20 normally. Compare to the us where $100 isn’t abnormal, or to 1900 when 100 £20 notes could buy a moderately sized house (but there were also £100, £200 notes, and higher denominations though I doubt they were used much). I think the U.K. should remove every coin less than 10p (ideally I would get rid of everything less than 50p but perhaps there should be a 50p and 25p coin for some time) from circulation and issue some new banknotes (at least a £50 note that shops accept, so maybe a £100 note should exist too). But I guess that isn’t going to happen because no one really cares about cash.
- Symbiote 7y ago
  > I think the U.K. should remove every coin less than 10p (ideally I would get rid of everything less than 50p but perhaps there should be a 50p and 25p coin for some time) Aim for 5p to be the lowest, to start. Even in the Nordic countries, where there's less wealth inequality, the smallest coins are worth 8.4p (Norway 1kr), 8.1p (Sweden 1kr), 5.7p (Denmark ½kr), 4.3p (Finland 5¢). > issue some new banknotes (at least a £50 note that shops accept They already do accept them where they're common (e.g. touristy places in London) so the problem will solve itself, but in any case, the new £50 will be issued in 2021.
simonh 7y ago
A friend of my wife hooked up with a college lecturer in his 60s a while back, maybe 10 years ago. She was cleaning up his kitchen when she came across an old tin of baked beans at the back of a cupboard, with the price on it in old money. I'm not old enough to have used old money myself, but we were still using the old shillings as 5 pence pieces when I was a kid. I remember using half penny coins as well. We had a jar of big old money coins in a jar, with pennies, farthings and at least one three pence piece.

It's not that long ago we left the gold standard.

We still had ha’pennies after decimalisation. Even before, the pennies weren’t worth what they used to be. In parts of the nineteenth century a penny would be worth something on the order of what 50p is worth today. I guess with money stored largely in bank accounts and financial instruments, inflation becomes a more reasonable thing and the fact that it’s annoying to buy things with physical money matters less. Yet even at the start of the twentieth century banknotes could be worth a lot more than anything today (in the U.K. you only go up to £20 normally. Compare to the us where $100 isn’t abnormal, or to 1900 when 100 £20 notes could buy a moderately sized house (but there were also £100, £200 notes, and higher denominations though I doubt they were used much). I think the U.K. should remove every coin less than 10p (ideally I would get rid of everything less than 50p but perhaps there should be a 50p and 25p coin for some time) from circulation and issue some new banknotes (at least a £50 note that shops accept, so maybe a £100 note should exist too). But I guess that isn’t going to happen because no one really cares about cash.

Symbiote 7y ago
> I think the U.K. should remove every coin less than 10p (ideally I would get rid of everything less than 50p but perhaps there should be a 50p and 25p coin for some time) Aim for 5p to be the lowest, to start. Even in the Nordic countries, where there's less wealth inequality, the smallest coins are worth 8.4p (Norway 1kr), 8.1p (Sweden 1kr), 5.7p (Denmark ½kr), 4.3p (Finland 5¢). > issue some new banknotes (at least a £50 note that shops accept They already do accept them where they're common (e.g. touristy places in London) so the problem will solve itself, but in any case, the new £50 will be issued in 2021.

simonh 7y ago

A friend of my wife hooked up with a college lecturer in his 60s a while back, maybe 10 years ago. She was cleaning up his kitchen when she came across an old tin of baked beans at the back of a cupboard, with the price on it in old money. I'm not old enough to have used old money myself, but we were still using the old shillings as 5 pence pieces when I was a kid. I remember using half penny coins as well. We had a jar of big old money coins in a jar, with pennies, farthings and at least one three pence piece.