The only coins that were used post decimal was the florin or 2 shilling piece (1/10th of a pound) equivalent to 10p and the shilling (1/20th of a pound) equivalent to 5p. All other coins in circulation on decimal day, half penny, penny, 3 penny, 6 penny and half crown, were no longer used. If you were passed any of those I think it may have been because of your accent
Bad things have happened to our coinage. When I was a lad, and a half crown meant something the whole history of the previous century could be spelled out in a handful of loose change. Remember the weight and heft of an old penny? Remember when a happeny made a standard inch? Remember when the coins said Ind. Imp. - And the "Silver" was 50% Ag? Now you can sort "Coppers" with a magnet!
Thinking back I don't recall that the bulk of the old coins were scrapped on a given day, without the new ones coming in first ? In those days cash was King, none of this credit card jiggery pokery, so there must have been a hand over period when both sets of coins were in use to allow the old ones to be withdrawn else chaos would have reigned even more than it did. However it would have been in 1971, and certainly not in the 1980's . Where is a numismatist when you need one ! Most tragically lost coins : 3d bit, what a great shaped coin Half Crown, you knew when you had one of them in your pocket - we used to try and pick them up from under the grids which gave light to the cellars on our street, using chewing gum stuck on the end of a bamboo cane . . 8)
I still have a big pile of old coinage, from time to time I've pulled it out to show the kids and the grandkids. You count out a pound in change and feel the weight you get My favourite coin without doubt was the Half Crown, as a kid if you got 2 bob you were a Lord, but Half a Crown 'appy days, 'appydays
I agree with you Bruce about the weight of stoves, some peopls slam the Trangia as to heavy, but you weigh your Nova/MSR stove, plus the fuel bottle, plus the pots and pans to match, and your often better off with the Trangia all in one setup
Yea gads there lad you was just a yong whipper snappper when i was already a full fledged wild man accused of beating up wimmin and rape'n chidren ( or was it the other ways about ) over in Vietnam by the hippies. 8) Then i went an' wasted the rest of my life by staying in the service just so i could get me a retirement income. an' look at me now i'm a full fledged travel'n man still trying ta earn a liv'n, while you is retired and hav'n all that fun a camp'n and fix'n landy's and snuggl'n with you sweet gal and all. i be old befer my time, to be sure. lance
Yeah, I got thrown at first, too. I think this oldie got resurrected with an internal link of some kind, perhaps....?
...and being pre-1947, it's 50% silver - worth a bob or two! 8) Decimal day was 15th February 1971, Keith...
He's about & kindly took delivery of a parcel for a Swedish friend recently - just busy with work & family!
all this got me looking thru some coins i brought back from the UK--well Scotland really--in 1967..one penny has a 1898 date and a small coin --a half penny??---is worn down, you can just make out the Queen on one side,the other being smooth..i was told later on that coins with old 1800's dates were common--
The changeover was called D-Day; there was to be a phased period of (I think) a few months when you could trade in either currency but almost all retailers bit the bullet and changed on the first day. IIRC, the sixpence and half-crown were legal tender for quite a while post-decimalisation as they had an exact equivalent – 2 ½ p and 12 ½ p. The half crown was massive coin and certainly worth having. If you had a generous, but only occasionally visited, uncle you might get one as a parting tip. Sometimes. Ian
