Since you mentioned variant coins that were used for short periods or in the colonies, you forgot about the half farthing (1/8 of a penny)- the smallest denomination produced in the history of the currency. The half farthing was issued for use in Ceylon during the late Georgian/early Victorian era. I have one in my collection, and whenever someone asks about it and I explain it to them they always say "Oh, that's so ridiculous!"
This was a wander down memory lane. My parents had a shop and it was common parlance to refer to copper & silver when getting change from the bank. Back in the day a lot of people liked the 3d, after all who doesn't like thrupenny bits 😉
I work with people with dementia and their long term memory for predecimal currency is amazing. Often they say the pound coin is a threepenny bit and the 5p coin is a sixpence. Having seen these documentaries you can understand why as the colours and shapes are similar. And sometimes they perceive 2p as the old penny.
Base 12 wasn't very consequent. 1 dozend Pence were 1 Shilling but 20 Shilling (240 Pence) were one Pound. More logical would be 12 Pence one Shilling, 12 Shilling one Pound (144 Shillings equals a gros). But what should we expect of an medieval Coinsystem which was wide spread through europe (Bavaria, 1 Gulden equals 60 Kreuzer equals 240 Pfennig and 480 Heller)
This advantage of dividing by 3 is a common fallacy. In decimal you can just as easily divide 12 decimal pounds by 3 just like 12 imperial pounds. The base 12/20 just destroys simple accounting where as base 10 perfectly fits accounts. The idea that people were paid, even, round amounts of 1 shilling is false. There were no advantages of the imperial system it was just plain inferior.
@@BlueBirds-fs1id Not really a fallacy when an average workman in Victorian England made 6 shillings, 8 pence per week. Or, put another way, try dividing 100 by 3. A pound was literally a pound of silver and that was not an insubstantial sum in that era. Hell, a pound of sterling silver is worth $375.55 as of today's prices so it still is a not insubstantial sum.
An interesting thing you didn’t mention Christopher is that the two shilling/florin was first introduced as an attempt to go decimal early in Victoria's reign and even had “one tenth of a pound” on the reverse. There were also lots of trials of decimal coins around 1860. So whilst the UK was late to go decimal it did try earlier. I remember lending my Dad my prize gothic florin when he was explaining the upcoming decimal currency to the staff where he worked.
The old way of money has so much nostalgia built into it. We don't have those names anymore, shilling, bob, crown etc. I can understand why decimal was brought in, but a lot of history was thrown out in 1971.
I should point out that if you had grown up with the system, it would likely seem as reasonable as the current one. As another point, I believe a lot of the same problems that arose from going decimal would have still shown up if it had been done in reverse (going from 100p/£ to 240d/£)
Oh I absolutely agree with you there at the time it was the only system and not having known another system other than the decimal system is the reason I struggle with it at times -CC
At 2:26, "Minted from around 1272 under the reign of King Edward 1st unti 1856 under the reign of Elizabeth 1st." Err .... Elizabeth 1st died in 1558 so something wrong there methinks.
I was born a year after the Farthing stopped being minted (although it was still legal tender till 1960). I loved the big half crowns. Having one of those in your pocket made you feel rich as a youngster! 😂.
I visited the UK as a kid in 1982. I knew how pre-decimal currency worked, but I was confused and surprised when I got shilling and two-shilling coins in change. I learned then that those coins remained in use as they were the same size and weight as their decimal equivalents, so they worked in vending machines and so on.
Being born in 1953 and therefore using pre decimal coinage right up until my second year at work I can truly say that I thought going decimal was a terrible idea and still do. To suggest that working out adding up pre decimal prices was hard is just plain wrong, anyone of my age could do it as easily as folk today can sum up decimal prices. Pre decimal coinage was basically a sexagesimal system and we have absolutely no problem with our clocks being that way too. Thank goodness no one has managed to decimalise our time system. Why do I think pre decimal was better, well it's all down to division, let's take the decimal 5 pence piece (a shilling in old money), you can divide that up in two ways - give 5 people a penny or one person the lot. The pre decimal shilling could be divided up as follows. twelve people get a penny, six people get tuppence, 4 people get threepence, 3 people get four pence, 2 people get sixpence or one person gets the lot. And yes, I'm a dinosaur and still use imperial measures and temperatures. 😁
I liked your explanation of dividing the shilling. I was born just after decimalisation (1975) and I grew up with my parents and grandparents using the old terms for the coinage. For example, grandad would give me 10p and say "here's two bob to get some sweets lad". So for my generation we grew up with both old and new money given that the shilling and florin circulated as 5p and 10p until I was into my teenage years. Today the generation of youngsters like Chris don't understand and think that the old system was difficult because of the poor education system we have these days and also the lack of interest in anything that uses your brain to understand.
I think your system sounds fine without inflation. A British pound literally was a pound of sterling silver at one point. Now, in terms of buying power, you probably don’t need anything below 10 p. I’ve always found it quite intriguing you needed 960 farthings for one old British pound. I imagine in times past, disgruntled people paid fines in farthings just to troll city hall or whatever other government official, lol!
We referred to the first 50p coins as ten bob bits. Coin hunting was more fun pre decimal. One hundred years of coins in circulation, five monarchs, mint marks, Scottish and English shillings and variants on top! At least to start with one and two shilling coins could be had, until the great shrinking happened.
the great shrinking happened on February 15, 1971. The people behind the decimalisation project did not think that much; they overlooked the difficulty and the economic repercussions of diluting 240 pence into 100 new pence. The decimalisation project in Australia was a great success and a lot of Australians were happy when they decimalised the currency in 1966. Why? Because they decimalised only half of the 240 pence. For the Australian government, it is more feasible to dilute 120 pence into 100 cents and then they changed the name of the currency from Australian pound to Australian dollar. In UK, some considered following the Australian model, but the government rejected it because they don't want to reduce the value of the pound into half due to its prestige and being a reserve currency in the world. Diluting 240 pence into 100 new pence was a very unpopular decision of the government and majority of the British citizens considered it as the biggest swindle in history of British currency. The UK government should have just considered adjusting the number of shillings in a pound and the number of pence in a shilling. 20 shillings to a pound should have been adjusted to 100 shillings and each shilling shall be equivalent to 10 pence. This is the more feasible way of decimalising the pound. One old shilling shall be equivalent to 5 new shillings. 50 new pence (5 shillings) can easily accommodate the 12 old pence as follows: Farthing=1 new pence, Halfpenny=2 new pence, Old penny=4 new pence, old 2 pence=8 new pence, Threepence=1/2, old 4 pence=1/7, old 5 pence=2/1, Sixpence=2/5, old 7 pence=2/9, old 8 pence=3/3, old 9 pence=3/7, old 10 pence=4/2, old 11 pence=4/6 and old 12 pence=50 new pence or 5/- (5 shillings). The decimalisation of the pound in 1971 was really weird because the government tried to divide the cramped 5 new pence by 12. Had the government adjusted 240 pence to 1,000 pence, the British citizens would have not felt that they were swindled. If the government adjusted 240 pence to 1,000 pence in 1971, the coin series would have been as follows: 1 new penny, 5 new pence, 1 new shilling, 5 new shillings, 10 new shillings, 25 new shillings and 50 new shillings.
@@friendly1999ph Sorry to jump on an old thread, but thanks for sharing the idea and the math! Think of the great shrinking as a gift to future generations. They knew the pound would be devalued over the coming century, that's what fractional reserve banking does when conjuring money from nothing, debasing all prior currency. Leadership didn't want to accelerate the fall, and they knew that the pound was already in the sweet spot where one main unit of currency is supposed to be. Namely able to buy 0.2 and 2 pints of ale. If the main unit is too strong, it leads to the need of a bewildering number of sub-units. If it's too weak, sub-units become pointless. Every country has struggled with this and is today still struggling with this, and I respect the UK govt's decision to keep the pound stronger even if anyone with a lot of pennies lying around lost purchasing power.
Have you ever wondered why, after approximately 50 years of having these new coins, we've never given them pet names? Why do we just call them _5p's_ or _1 pound coins_ when we could still call them _shillings_ or _sovereigns,_ respectively? Hell, why didn't we bring back the term _tuppence,_ considering we've got a _2 pence_ coin again? I think, ultimately, we just don't feel as attached to the new money as we had the old coins. _2p = a Tuppence_ _5p = a Shilling/a Bob_ _10p = a Florin_ _50p = Ten Bob/a Halfsov_ _£1 = A Sovereign_
@@stephenlee5929 it's the same with the Euro, nowhere near as many nicknames for Euro coins as we had with our old national coins (I think this goes for most european countries) I guess it just takes centuries for these names to develop, and in the 21st century we went digital and didn't use coins that much anyway so those days will never return.
Not even Churchill crowns? I've read quite a bit about their popularity in circulation. It was great fun learning the system to put the video together 😁👍 -CC
In India, i read a lot of books by british authors as a child. Always used to wonder what these denominations were. That was before the internet, of course. Thanks for the nice video
You forgot to mention the farthing, everyone's favourite pre-decimal coin. A coin of such low value (960 to the pound) that even in the 1950s it was scrapped as being essentially worthless. But it was pretty, and known as a jenny because of the wren on its reverse (or maybe it had the wren design because it was already known as a jenny).
Thank you for your explaining. I'm from Germany. We have the decimal courrency since 1874. Bevore in Prussia we have 12 Pfennig to 1 Silver-Groschen and 30 Silver-Groschen to 1 Taler (= 360 Pfennig to 1 Taler). In 1874, Berlin decided to a decimal system. 10 Pfennig = 1 Silver-Groschen and 10 Silver-Groschen = 1 Mark.
You think it is complicated now, living in 2024. Growing up in the pre decimal days it wasn't too complicated. 12 pennies to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound. 240 pennies to one pound.
Haha I’m still confused…. I was hoping you would do a video on the pre decimal system. Being born in 1969 I only know the decimal system. That must have been a challenge for you, to do a video explaining it all, but you did a really good job, nice to have all the coins (and values) explained. I think I will pass on trying to add up all the old coins!!! Brilliant video Christopher, thanks. I did learn a lot today
Thank you! It was a trickier video to make haha! The amount of times I thought I understood then something didn't work out and I had to start again. So glad we don't use the pre decimal system anymore 🤣🤣🤣 -CC
Hi thank you it's very helpful. Were any notes in circulation in 1912? I am researching Edwardian England up to 1912 & heard of a 10 bob note being in circulation at that time.
Excellent video! I'm fascinated by pre-decimal currency and enjoyed the information presented, including details like Nigeria being the last to leave the LSD system (another bit of fun terminology). It's worth noting that much of pre-modern arithmetic was done mentally, so numbers that divide into many whole numbers were favored (like 12, with 12 pence per shilling and 12 inches per foot). Since most daily transactions would only involve silver pennies, conversion of shillings and pounds weren't often an issue. That of course changed over the centuries as values and economies changed. Anyway I could go on forever, so thank you for this video! I'm looking forward to another on the subject.
I arrived after decimalisation so I didn’t have the struggle of trying to work it all out, although there were shillings and florins around I knew them as 5p and 10p and the new small 1/2p was cool as you could get half Penny sweets 🍬 Great stuff Christopher & BCC 👍🏻
I guess so. To be honest that part of the video I recorded and whilst editing realised I had got it wrong so had to re do it 🤣🤣🤣 It was so confusing -CC
Christopher, I follow and enjoy your coin hunts. Understandably, perhaps given your age, a few small mistakes and additions here. I was born in 1949 with the old coinage. As was mentioned in another comment you didn't initially mention the ten bob note, ten shilling note, but did mention it at the end. Lovely red colour. The crown or five shilling piece was NEVER in general circulation, certainly not in the 20th century at least. There were a few struck as commemoratives in a handful of years, and were legal tender but were never seen in your change. The halfpenny was always pronounced the ha'penny, even by posh people, and the threepence was usually called a thripenny 'bit', for some reason. There were of course different slang terms as you mentioned and I believe they differed in different parts of the UK. A sixpence was a tanner and a half crown was also called 'half a dollar' and five shillings, 'a dollar', although as I said, no crown coin was actually used. A dollar was usually two half crowns or any combination to make five bob. The old Andy Capp cartoons often mention this slang, 'half a dollar' and 'dollar' term. These dollar names weren't linked directly to the US dollar. Someone with far more knowledge than me about coins will no doubt give the history of that term. Also, certainly in the Manchester area where I lived, the two and six was also called 'two and a kick'. The two bob and half crown lived together well even though only sixpence separated them and especially the two and six, the half a crown, was a very popular coin. Great memories. Not trying to be a smarty, love your videos. Just adding a few things as I'm sure some other boomers and even older generation and younger people will add in comments. I never really remember the farthing being used by myself as a child in the early 1950s, the minting was stopped in 1956. Although I have seen them with the beautiful Jenny Wren bird on the reverse. It was too low a denomination even for then at the sweet shops, although I'm sure they'd have to be accepted, though some older people may well correct me on that. As has been mentioned in other videos on the subject, when you were brought up with the pre metric system it wasn't difficult to understand. It was all you knew. Keep up your excellent videos.
You raise some interesting points and things I now want to go off and look into 🤣 I was surprised to read that crowns were not in circulation as I have read lots about how much people loved the Churchil crown being in circulation and using it despite its size and weight. I know the crown I used in the video didn't circulate but I wanted to use that one because the denomination was clear on it. Hope that answers some of your queries. Thanks for tuning in 😁👍 -CC
I looked into the Churchill Crown, released in 1965 with a mintage of 9,640,000. And it was in general circulation it seems, although I read it wasn't popular in people's pockets, being a large coin. I have no recollection of it being released or in general change when I was a teenager at that time but it clearly was. I imagine that a lot of people souvenired it immediately and there are many sitting in drawers around the country. So I was wrong about crowns never being in general circulation although it seems it wasn't popular as change, due to its size, with many. You learn something every day. Thank you for replying to my original comment.
I was born a few years before decimalisation, I vaguely remember the coins being used. Yes until the shilling and two shilling coins became no longer legal tender alongside their new counterparts because of the introduction of the smaller 5ps and 10ps in the early 90’s.
Honestly, I would really like us to return to this old system. I don't really know why: it's not like I'm nostalgic, since I was born in the 2000's. There's just gives me a fuzzy feeling of a older, simpler, prouder time, long-gone. So what, if it's slightly more complicated. A little extra maths in our day-to-day life would probably do our society good. Once people got used to it, they'd probably have easier times fractioning things. Counting coins is probably most people's first experience of real-world maths.
Thanks Christopher for the information on the old ways of using the predecimal money count because it would have confused me of what you would have and not have and when it all went decimal it was a lot easier to work with I've noticed that there was old paper money but it was a lot larger than the decimal paper ones.😊
Very good video, Christopher. A small slip at 2:35 secs - I think you meant the Groat circulated until 1586 (Elizabeth I) rather than 1856. Although I do have some 4d coins from later than 1586 - I believe some early 19thC ones - but perhaps they were minted for colonial use. Speaking of which, I have seen recently a half farthing, and even a quarter farthing coin. And a third of a farthing. All nineteenth century (although I think the one third of a farthing was occasionally minted in the early 20thC). All were originally colonial coins, but I think the half farthing was minted very occasionally for UK use in the 1840s. There's a wiki page somewhere which gives more details. I like that you found the system crazy. It's a sign of the times. I was, myself, also born just after decimalisation (6 months after) but I did do O Levels rather than GCSEs, and one of the things that was dropped after my year of O levels was having to work in difference Base units - Base 2 (or binary, where the only numbers are 0 and 1), all the way up to base 12 (where the numbers 0-9 were added to by a 'number' A and 'B' for what we know as 10 and 11, and the number '10' meant 12 to us, who use Base 10). It was complex, and is used today in things like hexadecimal and binary in computer-speak, but it helped to make the old £ s d make sense. There is a sense to it, but it's more difficult to see if you're born in the decimal era. I can relate to the sense of 20 shillings in a pound, etc. I think pre-1970s children really had a good handle on how to add up £sd that we never did have, so decimal made things more difficult for them. Whilst I disagree with the user who said in these comments that decimalisation "caused" inflation - because inflation was certainly around before that (look at Harold Wilson's government having to devalue the pound in the 1960s) I do get the idea that decimalisation led to some more inflation, as things were sometimes rounded to the nearest new penny. But 'twas ever thus. I remember when petrol stations went from pricing petrol in gallons to litres. You used to see the more expensive stations would be, say, 2p more expensive per gallon. When we started to use litres, they were suddenly 2p more expensive per litre. But there are 4.54 litres per gallon, so overnight they went from being 2p more expensive per gallon to being just over 9p more expensive per gallon. Two other things you might have mentioned, although I understand why you didn't. There is also the double florin, that was part of the proposed decimal experiment in the 1880s. They were minted for circulation, but never caught on (primarily, I think, because you couldn't easily tell from looking at them that weren't a florin, unless you also happened to have a florin in your hand to compare it with). They were only minted for a handful of years, but interestingly they were never demonetised. So, ironically, since the removal of shillings and two shilling/florin coins with the re-sizing of the 5p and 10p in the 1990s, it's the only pre-decimal coin that's still legal tender. In theory, shops should have to accept them as worth 20p. But you'd be mad to do this because (a) they're relatively rare to find, and (b) they're silver coins, so their silver value is far greater than their face value. The last thing is the sixpence. You didn't mention that it wasn't demonetised in 1971. I didn't realise this myself until it was actually demonetised in June 1980 - remarkably late for a pre-decimal coin that did not have a direct replacement in the decimal coinage (like the shilling and two shilling did). Although never minted after 1970 (and really never after 1967, because the 1970s coins just went into sets) it remained as being worth 2½p until 1980. There you go. Trivia.
The modern (1800s) groat, the third, half and quarter farthing and the 1 1/2 pence (three halpence) coin were all intended for overseas use but did circulate in the UK When we (Rhodesia) went decimal the 3d was replaced by a 2 1/2 cent coin The Wilson devaluation was (in part) caused by Rhodedia declaring independence after Wilson refused Dominion status. The majority of our economy was based on trading with the UK; so Wilson lost out there You're right about the 6d. When we came to the UK it could still (occasionally) be used as 2 1/2 new pence in shops
Great Job! I'm a Yank and would never figure out that system. I was reading a book that took place in 1920 or so, and the character went to a small tavern (pub) and the bartender said, "that will be a tanner." Bet it costs more than a tanner today!
The predecimal coins have such iconic designs on 😄, they should of modified the predecimal designs for some of decimal coins but that probably would have also been confusing if a new 2p looked similar to a predecimal halfpence
It's all the nicknames that confuse the hell out of me! I can get used to pence, shillings, pounds and even guineas but when we go barreling off the road into the swamp of bobs, bits, thin-uns, tanners and crowns, you lose me.
I remember loosing a tooth when finding a sixpence in my Christmas pudding and my mums face when at the bank unlocking a bank locked piggy bank that was half full of thrupenny bits years after decimalisation. Not sure if the bank honoured it or my mum had to put some money into my account. Thanks for taking me on a trip down memory lane
Hi there, can you point me in the right direction for a few purchasing options (online order is best I suppose) for a 1969 and 1970 five pence coin for a school project? I thank you in advance for any help and links you can give when you have the time to do so!
We don't have any on our website unless you want the proof or annual set. If you are just after the individual coins eBay is probably your best option 👍 -CC
What about the Guinea, I believe that it is still used to do with horse trading? I was a child in the pre-decimal age and back then I knew all th monarchs from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II, as we carried their portraits around in our pockets until 1971.
@@BritanniaCoinCompany- The modern (1800s) 4d Groat was known as a Joey I love the fractional denomination coins - third and quarter farthing; one and halfpence (small silver coin etc.)
"oh, it'll never catch on!" and "Its too complicated!" were a couple of phrases used by those who wanted to keep with the old system. I've been told that there was a cobbler's shop in town who refused to accept the new money. Unbelievable lol. Concerning adding in LSD, it was easy as everyone was used to the way it worked, clunky though it was.
You missed out the ten bob note, which was replaced by the 50p piece. I used to be a paperboy in 1972 and was paid 33 bob a week. I do miss tanners and bobs.
I was born in 1970 so never used them. But some nice designs. Which is a shame we don’t modernise the designs for todays coins . Thanks BCC . As easy as that. Best line 🙄🥴😂
??? Questions about markings on a bill of sale from New York in 1870: I know they used dollars, shillings, & pence in America then. Where we would put $45.00/00, there are four tick marks on the top of the fraction and two tick marks on the bottom. Another has four tick marks over three tick marks over two tick marks. Please explain what they mean. I have JPGs if you want to see them. Thank you for any help you can give.
Terry Pratchett freely admitted he loved the pre decimal system with its quirky names steeped in history and lore. Tuppence more and up goes the donkey as he would say. He had know idea what it meant either, but it didn't stop him.
The Crown was little used in daily life after the 19th Century:mainly issued for commemorative purposes (there was,technically,a yearly run in the 30s,but these were mainly issued in the run-down to Christmas.Also,though they had the same tails design and weren't commemorative in practice not used much more in daily life than any other post-19th Century crown🎩
Oh Christopher, you missed out the famous brown 10/- note, otherwise known as ten bob 🙈 Two ten bob notes = £1 Ten shilling coins = Ten bob note Four half crowns also = Ten bob My very first wage packet for a weeks work was £3-10/- I agree decimal is easier now, but at the time it was very difficult to train the mind to think differently. Plus, prices were rounded up from old to new, not down. Overnight everything became more expensive. I worked in a flower shop at the time, and after changeover day, the older customers would just say ‘take how much you want’ because it was all very alien to them as the old currency has been to you. I think the 10/- note deserves an honorary mention…. Please 😊
I didn't realise there was so much love for the 10/- note 🤣 Main focus was the coins the £1 note needed for some of the sums bits perhaps I'll have to revisit the video at some point then. -CC
Well the British system before predecimal was based more closely to the Spanish monetary system for centuries. Spanish currency was based on division of 8 and its factors (consider the reason during the the rise of the British Empire its main competitor until the mid 17th century was the Spanish Empire and later France, Spanish currency was preferred on the international market for its high quality and widespread us - much as US currency has been since WW2).. If you want to hear of even greater confusion --- before the US established its decimal currency for a hundred years colonists used a mix of French, Spanish and British currency due to the lack of American coinage and the poor quality and scarce coinage Britain provided.
Excellent presentation..! But perhaps you could have provided the spelling of the names of these various coins as well as the nick names eg is it a "Bop" or a "Bob"..? How do you spell "Ginny; "Grote"; "farthing" etc. without me having to look it up?
I remember the day it went decimalized my dad gave me a six pence (2.5p) to buy a dandy comic. The dandy comic cost me ,2p I was very disappointed I only get a half pence change😂😂
A straightforward system with four farthings to the penny, twelve pennies to the shilling, except in Jersey where there were thirteen and the Isle of Man where there were fourteen, twenty shillings to the pound and twenty one shillings to the guinea. Some colonies had third farthings and others had quarter farthings. Britain had half farthings for a while. Should go back to this after Brexit. State employees should be paid in crowns (five shillings) and double florins (four shillings).
Great video but decimalisation caused inflation which is rife today I was not born till after decimalisation but I remember The ryhyme and slang To Bob bit . Use your imagination Lol 👍 Take care 👍
I'm afraid my comments may be a bit offensive to some, but you explain how complicated it was to add up the old currency; that’s probably because people are poorer at maths today then the average person was back then - exams and qualifications mean very little today in real terms - hence why so many more people have them - even thick people! You also missed the most common term used for ' threpence' as a 'thrupenny bit'! This was my favourite coin at the time; I was always given one by my granny - and you could buy loads of sweets with it! Changing to Decimal was the biggest rip off this country has ever seen (probably even bigger then leaving the EU - which is saying something!) the difference being; the new currency was introduced by ‘conning‘ the public - leaving the EU happened because people were thick! As for decimalization; we should never have stood for it. The new currency as it was called back then was pretty valueless compared to the old currency, and caused a great many old great shops to close early, as many chose this time to retire, not being able to adapt to the new currency at their time of life. The new currency just made it easier to charge more for Goods and to increase prices when they went up by larger/bigger denominations. Previously, prices would go up by a penny or ha'penny. Afterwards and now, prices go up by pounds... I think the modern currency is absolute crap - I never liked it - and still don’t. I wish we would go back to the old currency tomorrow! It was only ever introduced to make more money for people who already had it, and probably to help those who were pretty lazy at maths! (and probably everything else!)
Very informative thanks. LindyBeige also has a great video on the entire history of UK coins. He said that 240 is a composite number, so, the fact it can be divided so many ways was a benefit for the pre-decimal system. ua-cam.com/video/R2paSGQRwvo/v-deo.htmlsi=6tu8Jf6eB6ZMwwZH And, he mentioned too about being able to divide by 3 also gave the pre-decimal system an advantage over decimal. Hard for us, though, brought up on decimal to get our head around pre-decimal, but, they were beautiful coins, the clink of the silver is beautiful too. And, to know that your coins weren’t just face value makes the really old coins more meaningful.
Since you mentioned variant coins that were used for short periods or in the colonies, you forgot about the half farthing (1/8 of a penny)- the smallest denomination produced in the history of the currency. The half farthing was issued for use in Ceylon during the late Georgian/early Victorian era. I have one in my collection, and whenever someone asks about it and I explain it to them they always say "Oh, that's so ridiculous!"
the whole system looks like it came right out of Discworld
The half farthing was worth 8p (more exactly 7.7p) in today's money when it got removed BTW
This was a wander down memory lane. My parents had a shop and it was common parlance to refer to copper & silver when getting change from the bank. Back in the day a lot of people liked the 3d, after all who doesn't like thrupenny bits 😉
Oh that is neat! I like the shape of the 3d I must say -CC
I work with people with dementia and their long term memory for predecimal currency is amazing. Often they say the pound coin is a threepenny bit and the 5p coin is a sixpence. Having seen these documentaries you can understand why as the colours and shapes are similar. And sometimes they perceive 2p as the old penny.
Yeah my missus has a nice pair of thrupenny bits and I really enjoy handling them. 😆
@@Cosford24 😃😃😃
Us scots didn't like them we preferred the silver threepence
Pre decimal base 12 had its advantages too, like being able to divide by thirds.
It certainly does... I am glad I didn't have to learn it though 🤣🤣🤣 -CC
Base 12 wasn't very consequent. 1 dozend Pence were 1 Shilling but 20 Shilling (240 Pence) were one Pound. More logical would be 12 Pence one Shilling, 12 Shilling one Pound (144 Shillings equals a gros). But what should we expect of an medieval Coinsystem which was wide spread through europe (Bavaria, 1 Gulden equals 60 Kreuzer equals 240 Pfennig and 480 Heller)
Addition and subtraction are much more common operations than division when it comes to currency.
This advantage of dividing by 3 is a common fallacy.
In decimal you can just as easily divide 12 decimal pounds by 3 just like 12 imperial pounds. The base 12/20 just destroys simple accounting where as base 10 perfectly fits accounts. The idea that people were paid, even, round amounts of 1 shilling is false.
There were no advantages of the imperial system it was just plain inferior.
@@BlueBirds-fs1id Not really a fallacy when an average workman in Victorian England made 6 shillings, 8 pence per week. Or, put another way, try dividing 100 by 3. A pound was literally a pound of silver and that was not an insubstantial sum in that era. Hell, a pound of sterling silver is worth $375.55 as of today's prices so it still is a not insubstantial sum.
An interesting thing you didn’t mention Christopher is that the two shilling/florin was first introduced as an attempt to go decimal early in Victoria's reign and even had “one tenth of a pound” on the reverse. There were also lots of trials of decimal coins around 1860. So whilst the UK was late to go decimal it did try earlier. I remember lending my Dad my prize gothic florin when he was explaining the upcoming decimal currency to the staff where he worked.
Yes I've mentioned that in other videos on the channel. The gothic florin is a beauty of a coin! -CC
The old way of money has so much nostalgia built into it. We don't have those names anymore, shilling, bob, crown etc. I can understand why decimal was brought in, but a lot of history was thrown out in 1971.
I still use bob and around my way a five bod note and 10 bob note is still in common parlance.
*This was one of the most comprehensive videos of the channel. Thank you Christopher for this cool information about the pre-decimal UK system.*
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video -CC
What a boon to those given to absorbing classic British literature of the 17th & 18th century. The coins pinched by the Artful Dodger come to life.
Excellent look at the pre-decimal system. Thanks Christopher
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it -CC
I should point out that if you had grown up with the system, it would likely seem as reasonable as the current one.
As another point, I believe a lot of the same problems that arose from going decimal would have still shown up if it had been done in reverse (going from 100p/£ to 240d/£)
Oh I absolutely agree with you there at the time it was the only system and not having known another system other than the decimal system is the reason I struggle with it at times -CC
At 2:26, "Minted from around 1272 under the reign of King Edward 1st unti 1856 under the reign of Elizabeth 1st." Err .... Elizabeth 1st died in 1558 so something wrong there methinks.
I was born a year after the Farthing stopped being minted (although it was still legal tender till 1960). I loved the big half crowns. Having one of those in your pocket made you feel rich as a youngster! 😂.
When an Uncle or an Auntie gave you one as they left!!!😆
@@johntyjp 😂😂
I can imagine it did! They are huge coins in comparison to what we use today -CC
That would explain why my mum used to say "he or she's got big half crowns" when talking about people who appeared to spend more than they had.
I visited the UK as a kid in 1982. I knew how pre-decimal currency worked, but I was confused and surprised when I got shilling and two-shilling coins in change.
I learned then that those coins remained in use as they were the same size and weight as their decimal equivalents, so they worked in vending machines and so on.
I heard also the old sixpence circulated for a while as 2.5 pence under the decimal system.
Being born in 1953 and therefore using pre decimal coinage right up until my second year at work I can truly say that I thought going decimal was a terrible idea and still do. To suggest that working out adding up pre decimal prices was hard is just plain wrong, anyone of my age could do it as easily as folk today can sum up decimal prices. Pre decimal coinage was basically a sexagesimal system and we have absolutely no problem with our clocks being that way too. Thank goodness no one has managed to decimalise our time system. Why do I think pre decimal was better, well it's all down to division, let's take the decimal 5 pence piece (a shilling in old money), you can divide that up in two ways - give 5 people a penny or one person the lot. The pre decimal shilling could be divided up as follows. twelve people get a penny, six people get tuppence, 4 people get threepence, 3 people get four pence, 2 people get sixpence or one person gets the lot. And yes, I'm a dinosaur and still use imperial measures and temperatures. 😁
I liked your explanation of dividing the shilling. I was born just after decimalisation (1975) and I grew up with my parents and grandparents using the old terms for the coinage. For example, grandad would give me 10p and say "here's two bob to get some sweets lad". So for my generation we grew up with both old and new money given that the shilling and florin circulated as 5p and 10p until I was into my teenage years. Today the generation of youngsters like Chris don't understand and think that the old system was difficult because of the poor education system we have these days and also the lack of interest in anything that uses your brain to understand.
I'm sure if it was the only system I knew I'd be able to work it out too but I still think the system we have now is a tad simpler 🤣🤣🤣 -CC
@@BritanniaCoinCompany Simpler, but less useful(functional).
Yes, I hated the Mickey Mouse money when they forced it on us and still do.
I think your system sounds fine without inflation. A British pound literally was a pound of sterling silver at one point. Now, in terms of buying power, you probably don’t need anything below 10 p. I’ve always found it quite intriguing you needed 960 farthings for one old British pound. I imagine in times past, disgruntled people paid fines in farthings just to troll city hall or whatever other government official, lol!
We referred to the first 50p coins as ten bob bits.
Coin hunting was more fun pre decimal. One hundred years of coins in circulation, five monarchs, mint marks, Scottish and English shillings and variants on top! At least to start with one and two shilling coins could be had, until the great shrinking happened.
Yes I can imagine that being really fun! Less in the way of commemoratives but a variety to look for in their own way. -CC
Also Irish cnnies pre-Euro.
the great shrinking happened on February 15, 1971. The people behind the decimalisation project did not think that much; they overlooked the difficulty and the economic repercussions of diluting 240 pence into 100 new pence. The decimalisation project in Australia was a great success and a lot of Australians were happy when they decimalised the currency in 1966. Why? Because they decimalised only half of the 240 pence. For the Australian government, it is more feasible to dilute 120 pence into 100 cents and then they changed the name of the currency from Australian pound to Australian dollar. In UK, some considered following the Australian model, but the government rejected it because they don't want to reduce the value of the pound into half due to its prestige and being a reserve currency in the world. Diluting 240 pence into 100 new pence was a very unpopular decision of the government and majority of the British citizens considered it as the biggest swindle in history of British currency. The UK government should have just considered adjusting the number of shillings in a pound and the number of pence in a shilling. 20 shillings to a pound should have been adjusted to 100 shillings and each shilling shall be equivalent to 10 pence. This is the more feasible way of decimalising the pound. One old shilling shall be equivalent to 5 new shillings. 50 new pence (5 shillings) can easily accommodate the 12 old pence as follows: Farthing=1 new pence, Halfpenny=2 new pence, Old penny=4 new pence, old 2 pence=8 new pence, Threepence=1/2, old 4 pence=1/7, old 5 pence=2/1, Sixpence=2/5, old 7 pence=2/9, old 8 pence=3/3, old 9 pence=3/7, old 10 pence=4/2, old 11 pence=4/6 and old 12 pence=50 new pence or 5/- (5 shillings). The decimalisation of the pound in 1971 was really weird because the government tried to divide the cramped 5 new pence by 12. Had the government adjusted 240 pence to 1,000 pence, the British citizens would have not felt that they were swindled. If the government adjusted 240 pence to 1,000 pence in 1971, the coin series would have been as follows: 1 new penny, 5 new pence, 1 new shilling, 5 new shillings, 10 new shillings, 25 new shillings and 50 new shillings.
@@friendly1999ph Sorry to jump on an old thread, but thanks for sharing the idea and the math! Think of the great shrinking as a gift to future generations. They knew the pound would be devalued over the coming century, that's what fractional reserve banking does when conjuring money from nothing, debasing all prior currency. Leadership didn't want to accelerate the fall, and they knew that the pound was already in the sweet spot where one main unit of currency is supposed to be. Namely able to buy 0.2 and 2 pints of ale. If the main unit is too strong, it leads to the need of a bewildering number of sub-units. If it's too weak, sub-units become pointless.
Every country has struggled with this and is today still struggling with this, and I respect the UK govt's decision to keep the pound stronger even if anyone with a lot of pennies lying around lost purchasing power.
Have you ever wondered why, after approximately 50 years of having these new coins, we've never given them pet names?
Why do we just call them _5p's_ or _1 pound coins_ when we could still call them _shillings_ or _sovereigns,_ respectively?
Hell, why didn't we bring back the term _tuppence,_ considering we've got a _2 pence_ coin again?
I think, ultimately, we just don't feel as attached to the new money as we had the old coins.
_2p = a Tuppence_
_5p = a Shilling/a Bob_
_10p = a Florin_
_50p = Ten Bob/a Halfsov_
_£1 = A Sovereign_
I think it 'cos, we knew they wouldn't last.
Just a flash in the pan. 😁😁
@@stephenlee5929 it's the same with the Euro, nowhere near as many nicknames for Euro coins as we had with our old national coins (I think this goes for most european countries)
I guess it just takes centuries for these names to develop, and in the 21st century we went digital and didn't use coins that much anyway so those days will never return.
We did not have crowns in daily use. Love to see them all again. I still have a collection of them as they went out of circulation. Oh my, I, so old 😂
Not even Churchill crowns? I've read quite a bit about their popularity in circulation. It was great fun learning the system to put the video together 😁👍 -CC
In India, i read a lot of books by british authors as a child.
Always used to wonder what these denominations were. That was before the internet, of course.
Thanks for the nice video
You forgot to mention the farthing, everyone's favourite pre-decimal coin. A coin of such low value (960 to the pound) that even in the 1950s it was scrapped as being essentially worthless. But it was pretty, and known as a jenny because of the wren on its reverse (or maybe it had the wren design because it was already known as a jenny).
It was the first coin he mentioned at the start of the video.
The farthing was definitely in the video it is one of my favourite pre decimal coins -CC
I was born in 1952 so I grew up with the pre decimal coins. I also worked and done a paper round that's where I got a started saving coins 👍
Oh awesome! -CC
Thank you for your explaining. I'm from Germany. We have the decimal courrency since 1874. Bevore in Prussia we have 12 Pfennig to 1 Silver-Groschen and 30 Silver-Groschen to 1 Taler (= 360 Pfennig to 1 Taler). In 1874, Berlin decided to a decimal system. 10 Pfennig = 1 Silver-Groschen and 10 Silver-Groschen = 1 Mark.
Oh that is interesting! A world pre decimal video sounds like fun! -CC
Interesting, I was born just too late to experience these.. Seems such a complicated system, but the coins looked nice and all the nicknames were fun
You think it is complicated now, living in 2024. Growing up in the pre decimal days it wasn't too complicated. 12 pennies to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound. 240 pennies to one pound.
The Half Pence is the Pluto of the coin world.
What does that mean?
Haha I’m still confused…. I was hoping you would do a video on the pre decimal system. Being born in 1969 I only know the decimal system.
That must have been a challenge for you, to do a video explaining it all, but you did a really good job, nice to have all the coins (and values) explained. I think I will pass on trying to add up all the old coins!!!
Brilliant video Christopher, thanks.
I did learn a lot today
Thank you! It was a trickier video to make haha! The amount of times I thought I understood then something didn't work out and I had to start again. So glad we don't use the pre decimal system anymore 🤣🤣🤣 -CC
I remember it very well, Christopher! And have loads in my collection. Great vids.
Awesome! -CC
Hi thank you it's very helpful. Were any notes in circulation in 1912? I am researching Edwardian England up to 1912 & heard of a 10 bob note being in circulation at that time.
Excellent video! I'm fascinated by pre-decimal currency and enjoyed the information presented, including details like Nigeria being the last to leave the LSD system (another bit of fun terminology). It's worth noting that much of pre-modern arithmetic was done mentally, so numbers that divide into many whole numbers were favored (like 12, with 12 pence per shilling and 12 inches per foot). Since most daily transactions would only involve silver pennies, conversion of shillings and pounds weren't often an issue. That of course changed over the centuries as values and economies changed. Anyway I could go on forever, so thank you for this video! I'm looking forward to another on the subject.
That does make sense, I am still glad I didn't have to wrap my head around the pre decimal system though haha! -CC
Pre decimal coins (penny/half penny/farthing and shilling) are my prime collecting subjects. They radiate the essence of pretty coinage.
There are some really lovely designs! -CC
Thank you for the direct and much less convoluted explanation than others.
I arrived after decimalisation so I didn’t have the struggle of trying to work it all out, although there were shillings and florins around I knew them as 5p and 10p and the new small 1/2p was cool as you could get half Penny sweets 🍬
Great stuff Christopher & BCC 👍🏻
Oh cool! 1/2 a penny wouldn't get you much in a sweet shop now haha! -CC
I used both sets of coins but my 2 favourite coins pre decimal are the farthing and thrupenny bit
I do like the design on the farthing! -CC
That was a very interesting video Christopher! ❤️
Thank you! -CC
Became inconvenient after inflation. With their original values, you would be dealing with only basic units for daily purchases.
I guess so. To be honest that part of the video I recorded and whilst editing realised I had got it wrong so had to re do it 🤣🤣🤣 It was so confusing -CC
Christopher, I follow and enjoy your coin hunts.
Understandably, perhaps given your age, a few small mistakes and additions here. I was born in 1949 with the old coinage. As was mentioned in another comment you didn't initially mention the ten bob note, ten shilling note, but did mention it at the end. Lovely red colour. The crown or five shilling piece was NEVER in general circulation, certainly not in the 20th century at least. There were a few struck as commemoratives in a handful of years, and were legal tender but were never seen in your change. The halfpenny was always pronounced the ha'penny, even by posh people, and the threepence was usually called a thripenny 'bit', for some reason. There were of course different slang terms as you mentioned and I believe they differed in different parts of the UK. A sixpence was a tanner and a half crown was also called 'half a dollar' and five shillings, 'a dollar', although as I said, no crown coin was actually used. A dollar was usually two half crowns or any combination to make five bob. The old Andy Capp cartoons often mention this slang, 'half a dollar' and 'dollar' term. These dollar names weren't linked directly to the US dollar. Someone with far more knowledge than me about coins will no doubt give the history of that term. Also, certainly in the Manchester area where I lived, the two and six was also called 'two and a kick'. The two bob and half crown lived together well even though only sixpence separated them and especially the two and six, the half a crown, was a very popular coin.
Great memories.
Not trying to be a smarty, love your videos. Just adding a few things as I'm sure some other boomers and even older generation and younger people will add in comments. I never really remember the farthing being used by myself as a child in the early 1950s, the minting was stopped in 1956. Although I have seen them with the beautiful Jenny Wren bird on the reverse. It was too low a denomination even for then at the sweet shops, although I'm sure they'd have to be accepted, though some older people may well correct me on that. As has been mentioned in other videos on the subject, when you were brought up with the pre metric system it wasn't difficult to understand. It was all you knew.
Keep up your excellent videos.
You raise some interesting points and things I now want to go off and look into 🤣 I was surprised to read that crowns were not in circulation as I have read lots about how much people loved the Churchil crown being in circulation and using it despite its size and weight. I know the crown I used in the video didn't circulate but I wanted to use that one because the denomination was clear on it. Hope that answers some of your queries. Thanks for tuning in 😁👍 -CC
I looked into the Churchill Crown, released in 1965 with a mintage of 9,640,000. And it was in general circulation it seems, although I read it wasn't popular in people's pockets, being a large coin. I have no recollection of it being released or in general change when I was a teenager at that time but it clearly was. I imagine that a lot of people souvenired it immediately and there are many sitting in drawers around the country. So I was wrong about crowns never being in general circulation although it seems it wasn't popular as change, due to its size, with many. You learn something every day.
Thank you for replying to my original comment.
Oh this was so good remebering all the old money but would rather have the new pence much eaiser lol
Yes! I wouldn't want to have to learn the pre decimal system... it was hard enough for this video 🤣 -CC
Wonderful presentation Sir.
Another great video Super duper thank you very much
Thank you! -CC
Very good video! Made perfect sense to me from the 60's onwards. 6d bought me a Mars Bar and packet of nuts. 10/- paid for an hour riding lesson.
That is fascinating! Glad you liked the video too 😁👍 -CC
I was born a few years before decimalisation, I vaguely remember the coins being used. Yes until the shilling and two shilling coins became no longer legal tender alongside their new counterparts because of the introduction of the smaller 5ps and 10ps in the early 90’s.
Oh neat! -CC
Honestly, I would really like us to return to this old system. I don't really know why: it's not like I'm nostalgic, since I was born in the 2000's.
There's just gives me a fuzzy feeling of a older, simpler, prouder time, long-gone.
So what, if it's slightly more complicated. A little extra maths in our day-to-day life would probably do our society good. Once people got used to it, they'd probably have easier times fractioning things. Counting coins is probably most people's first experience of real-world maths.
lol, nobody uses coins anyway, it's all google or apple pay now
Thanks Christopher for the information on the old ways of using the predecimal money count because it would have confused me of what you would have and not have and when it all went decimal it was a lot easier to work with I've noticed that there was old paper money but it was a lot larger than the decimal paper ones.😊
I am older enough to remember the Pre Decimal coin’s. I loved the Sixpence & Shilling’s the best👌👍
The sixpence is my favourite pre decimal coin 😁👍 -CC
Very good video, Christopher.
A small slip at 2:35 secs - I think you meant the Groat circulated until 1586 (Elizabeth I) rather than 1856. Although I do have some 4d coins from later than 1586 - I believe some early 19thC ones - but perhaps they were minted for colonial use. Speaking of which, I have seen recently a half farthing, and even a quarter farthing coin. And a third of a farthing. All nineteenth century (although I think the one third of a farthing was occasionally minted in the early 20thC). All were originally colonial coins, but I think the half farthing was minted very occasionally for UK use in the 1840s. There's a wiki page somewhere which gives more details.
I like that you found the system crazy. It's a sign of the times. I was, myself, also born just after decimalisation (6 months after) but I did do O Levels rather than GCSEs, and one of the things that was dropped after my year of O levels was having to work in difference Base units - Base 2 (or binary, where the only numbers are 0 and 1), all the way up to base 12 (where the numbers 0-9 were added to by a 'number' A and 'B' for what we know as 10 and 11, and the number '10' meant 12 to us, who use Base 10). It was complex, and is used today in things like hexadecimal and binary in computer-speak, but it helped to make the old £ s d make sense. There is a sense to it, but it's more difficult to see if you're born in the decimal era. I can relate to the sense of 20 shillings in a pound, etc. I think pre-1970s children really had a good handle on how to add up £sd that we never did have, so decimal made things more difficult for them. Whilst I disagree with the user who said in these comments that decimalisation "caused" inflation - because inflation was certainly around before that (look at Harold Wilson's government having to devalue the pound in the 1960s) I do get the idea that decimalisation led to some more inflation, as things were sometimes rounded to the nearest new penny. But 'twas ever thus. I remember when petrol stations went from pricing petrol in gallons to litres. You used to see the more expensive stations would be, say, 2p more expensive per gallon. When we started to use litres, they were suddenly 2p more expensive per litre. But there are 4.54 litres per gallon, so overnight they went from being 2p more expensive per gallon to being just over 9p more expensive per gallon.
Two other things you might have mentioned, although I understand why you didn't. There is also the double florin, that was part of the proposed decimal experiment in the 1880s. They were minted for circulation, but never caught on (primarily, I think, because you couldn't easily tell from looking at them that weren't a florin, unless you also happened to have a florin in your hand to compare it with). They were only minted for a handful of years, but interestingly they were never demonetised. So, ironically, since the removal of shillings and two shilling/florin coins with the re-sizing of the 5p and 10p in the 1990s, it's the only pre-decimal coin that's still legal tender. In theory, shops should have to accept them as worth 20p. But you'd be mad to do this because (a) they're relatively rare to find, and (b) they're silver coins, so their silver value is far greater than their face value.
The last thing is the sixpence. You didn't mention that it wasn't demonetised in 1971. I didn't realise this myself until it was actually demonetised in June 1980 - remarkably late for a pre-decimal coin that did not have a direct replacement in the decimal coinage (like the shilling and two shilling did). Although never minted after 1970 (and really never after 1967, because the 1970s coins just went into sets) it remained as being worth 2½p until 1980. There you go. Trivia.
The modern (1800s) groat, the third, half and quarter farthing and the 1 1/2 pence (three halpence) coin were all intended for overseas use but did circulate in the UK
When we (Rhodesia) went decimal the 3d was replaced by a 2 1/2 cent coin
The Wilson devaluation was (in part) caused by Rhodedia declaring independence after Wilson refused Dominion status. The majority of our economy was based on trading with the UK; so Wilson lost out there
You're right about the 6d. When we came to the UK it could still (occasionally) be used as 2 1/2 new pence in shops
Thanks 😁👍 -CC
Great Job! I'm a Yank and would never figure out that system. I was reading a book that took place in 1920 or so, and the character went to a small tavern (pub) and the bartender said, "that will be a tanner." Bet it costs more than a tanner today!
The predecimal coins have such iconic designs on 😄, they should of modified the predecimal designs for some of decimal coins but that probably would have also been confusing if a new 2p looked similar to a predecimal halfpence
I think enough time has now passed that they could do it. You are right some of the designs are lovely! -CC
They did for some of the coins
It's all the nicknames that confuse the hell out of me! I can get used to pence, shillings, pounds and even guineas but when we go barreling off the road into the swamp of bobs, bits, thin-uns, tanners and crowns, you lose me.
I remember loosing a tooth when finding a sixpence in my Christmas pudding and my mums face when at the bank unlocking a bank locked piggy bank that was half full of thrupenny bits years after decimalisation. Not sure if the bank honoured it or my mum had to put some money into my account. Thanks for taking me on a trip down memory lane
Lovely stories! Thank you for sharing them -CC
Hi there, can you point me in the right direction for a few purchasing options (online order is best I suppose) for a 1969 and 1970 five pence coin for a school project? I thank you in advance for any help and links you can give when you have the time to do so!
We don't have any on our website unless you want the proof or annual set. If you are just after the individual coins eBay is probably your best option 👍 -CC
What about the Guinea, I believe that it is still used to do with horse trading?
I was a child in the pre-decimal age and back then I knew all th monarchs from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II, as we carried their portraits around in our pockets until 1971.
Yes finding other monarchs must have been quite interesting although I guess at the time it was the norm and not as exciting as we may see it now -CC
Interesting look at real money 😃😃 I hadn't heard some of those nicknames. Our 3d was a Tickey (Rhodesia).
Hahaha glad you enjoyed! The nicknames of coins I have found fascinating. Trying to track down why they are called certain things was interesting -CC
@@BritanniaCoinCompany- The modern (1800s) 4d Groat was known as a Joey
I love the fractional denomination coins - third and quarter farthing; one and halfpence (small silver coin etc.)
I would like to have a thruppence for my collection, it's resonant with the new £1 coin design, but more chiselled in profile.
Yes it really is -CC
@@BritanniaCoinCompany I have since acquired one. The local antiques shop had a drawer full of them for a pound each. Pretty fair price 👍
"oh, it'll never catch on!" and "Its too complicated!" were a couple of phrases used by those who wanted to keep with the old system. I've been told that there was a cobbler's shop in town who refused to accept the new money. Unbelievable lol. Concerning adding in LSD, it was easy as everyone was used to the way it worked, clunky though it was.
I'm sure if it was the only system I knew I'd be able to work it out too but I still think the system we have now is a tad simpler 🤣🤣🤣 -CC
@@BritanniaCoinCompany A LOT simpler, just as metres are easier than yards or furlongs.
Whatever those are :)
You missed out the ten bob note, which was replaced by the 50p piece. I used to be a paperboy in 1972 and was paid 33 bob a week. I do miss tanners and bobs.
This is focusing on coins and not bank notes, which is why he didn't refer to it
Pre decimal also had the advantage of being actual precious metals and very. Precise weighting system that worked well the world over.
I was born in 1970 so never used them. But some nice designs. Which is a shame we don’t modernise the designs for todays coins . Thanks BCC . As easy as that. Best line 🙄🥴😂
Absolutely agree with you! There are so many lovely designs on them -CC
??? Questions about markings on a bill of sale from New York in 1870: I know they used dollars, shillings, & pence in America then. Where we would put $45.00/00, there are four tick marks on the top of the fraction and two tick marks on the bottom. Another has four tick marks over three tick marks over two tick marks. Please explain what they mean. I have JPGs if you want to see them. Thank you for any help you can give.
Terry Pratchett freely admitted he loved the pre decimal system with its quirky names steeped in history and lore.
Tuppence more and up goes the donkey as he would say.
He had know idea what it meant either, but it didn't stop him.
Frankly I prefer old money. The coins have names which are a bit harder to remember, but the basics are so wonderfully simple and intuitive
The Crown was little used in daily life after the 19th Century:mainly issued for commemorative purposes (there was,technically,a yearly run in the 30s,but these were mainly issued in the run-down to Christmas.Also,though they had the same tails design and weren't commemorative in practice not used much more in daily life than any other post-19th Century crown🎩
Oh Christopher, you missed out the famous brown 10/- note, otherwise known as ten bob 🙈
Two ten bob notes = £1
Ten shilling coins = Ten bob note
Four half crowns also = Ten bob
My very first wage packet for a weeks work was £3-10/-
I agree decimal is easier now, but at the time it was very difficult to train the mind to think differently. Plus, prices were rounded up from old to new, not down. Overnight everything became more expensive. I worked in a flower shop at the time, and after changeover day, the older customers would just say ‘take how much you want’ because it was all very alien to them as the old currency has been to you.
I think the 10/- note deserves an honorary mention…. Please 😊
I didn't realise there was so much love for the 10/- note 🤣 Main focus was the coins the £1 note needed for some of the sums bits perhaps I'll have to revisit the video at some point then. -CC
@@BritanniaCoinCompany I thought the same about the ten bob note, also called half-a-knicker.
Can anyone tell me how this was taught? Was there a particular book or set of exercises everyone did as children? Thanks for any leads!
Yes, it was part of maths classes. Plenty of books which you might find on Ebay if you are lucky.
I don't, like many others, need any explanation. I took the last GCE exams using "Pounds, Shillings and Pence". Don't forget the channel islands coins
Those pennies were heavy in my pocket
🤣🤣🤣 -CC
Well the British system before predecimal was based more closely to the Spanish monetary system for centuries. Spanish currency was based on division of 8 and its factors (consider the reason during the the rise of the British Empire its main competitor until the mid 17th century was the Spanish Empire and later France, Spanish currency was preferred on the international market for its high quality and widespread us - much as US currency has been since WW2).. If you want to hear of even greater confusion --- before the US established its decimal currency for a hundred years colonists used a mix of French, Spanish and British currency due to the lack of American coinage and the poor quality and scarce coinage Britain provided.
Excellent presentation..!
But perhaps you could have provided the spelling of the names of these various coins as well as the nick names eg is it a "Bop" or a "Bob"..?
How do you spell "Ginny; "Grote"; "farthing" etc. without me having to look it up?
Elizabeth I was not queen in 1856. Queen Victoria was. Elizabeth I was queen from 1558 to 1603.
I was born when old money was our currency was much better got more for your pound would go back tomorrow
my mum spent half my childhood converting money into "old money" lol
📽️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
😁👍 -CC
I remember the day it went decimalized my dad gave me a six pence (2.5p) to buy a dandy comic. The dandy comic cost me ,2p I was very disappointed I only get a half pence change😂😂
The term 'Guinea' outdated the coin even further in Egypt and Sudan; They still call their pounds 'Guinée'!
A straightforward system with four farthings to the penny, twelve pennies to the shilling, except in Jersey where there were thirteen and the Isle of Man where there were fourteen, twenty shillings to the pound and twenty one shillings to the guinea. Some colonies had third farthings and others had quarter farthings. Britain had half farthings for a while. Should go back to this after Brexit. State employees should be paid in crowns (five shillings) and double florins (four shillings).
Great video but decimalisation caused inflation which is rife today
I was not born till after decimalisation but I remember
The ryhyme and slang
To Bob bit .
Use your imagination
Lol 👍
Take care 👍
🤣🤣🤣 -CC
I don't think Elizabeth 1 was regining in 1856........
Yes my brain misfired 🤣 -CC
Anyone brought up with LSD had no problem understanding it.
I'm sure there were a lot of older folks who were annoyed by decimalisation . . . Just like if the USA went metric.
Do you moisturise your hands?
I'm afraid my comments may be a bit offensive to some, but you explain how complicated it was to add up the old currency; that’s probably because people are poorer at maths today then the average person was back then - exams and qualifications mean very little today in real terms - hence why so many more people have them - even thick people! You also missed the most common term used for ' threpence' as a 'thrupenny bit'! This was my favourite coin at the time; I was always given one by my granny - and you could buy loads of sweets with it! Changing to Decimal was the biggest rip off this country has ever seen (probably even bigger then leaving the EU - which is saying something!) the difference being; the new currency was introduced by ‘conning‘ the public - leaving the EU happened because people were thick! As for decimalization; we should never have stood for it. The new currency as it was called back then was pretty valueless compared to the old currency, and caused a great many old great shops to close early, as many chose this time to retire, not being able to adapt to the new currency at their time of life. The new currency just made it easier to charge more for Goods and to increase prices when they went up by larger/bigger denominations. Previously, prices would go up by a penny or ha'penny. Afterwards and now, prices go up by pounds... I think the modern currency is absolute crap - I never liked it - and still don’t. I wish we would go back to the old currency tomorrow! It was only ever introduced to make more money for people who already had it, and probably to help those who were pretty lazy at maths! (and probably everything else!)
Very informative thanks. LindyBeige also has a great video on the entire history of UK coins. He said that 240 is a composite number, so, the fact it can be divided so many ways was a benefit for the pre-decimal system.
ua-cam.com/video/R2paSGQRwvo/v-deo.htmlsi=6tu8Jf6eB6ZMwwZH
And, he mentioned too about being able to divide by 3 also gave the pre-decimal system an advantage over decimal. Hard for us, though, brought up on decimal to get our head around pre-decimal, but, they were beautiful coins, the clink of the silver is beautiful too. And, to know that your coins weren’t just face value makes the really old coins more meaningful.
Half,Third and Quarter Farthings existed
240 is far better divided by more numbers than 100 split a £ by three people 😊
It was not a crazy system.
All coins-bar a 1970 commemorative set-were dated 1967 in 1968-70 so as to avoid hording🎩
I have assumed you may be knowledgeable about coins, but if not, no problem at all. Thanks anyway!
I'm pretty well versed by now 🤣 -CC
note to americans we do not use this system anymore not since 1971, our currency is now decimal 100 pence in £1
Can you say all that again, I fell asleep...
Tf wrong with England lol