Pre-decimal

[poliphilo]

At the back of the Penguin Kipps there's a note explaining the pre-decimal British currency- sixpences, florins, guineas.  My first thought was, "surely everybody knows about that"- and then I did some calculations and realised you'd have to be pushing 50 to have ever worked with the old money. It's things like this that make me realise how venerable I am.

Comments

[oakmouse]

You're a Living National Treasure. ;)

One of the things I hate about the big modern push to rationalize everything is that too often rationalized measurements and currencies have no cultural features, nothing at all noticeable about them, just a slick finish and a stultifying unanimity.

Not always, of course. Canada did it right in a way, with their looney and tooneys, and I liked the short-lived Sacagawea dollar, the Bicentennial quarter, and the old Kennedy half-dollar. I admit the new pound coin is pretty and I like the dragon one, but IMO it's not as --- well, personable as the old-money ha'penny I have, or as the old Liberty dime.

Ah well. I hate innovation for its own sake anyway. Me being stuffy and stodgy, I suppose.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

I have a few old coins I've picked up over the years- and treasure. Pride of the collection are a George III cartwheel penny- a great chunk of bronze that was the biggest coin even minted in Britain- and an 1870s silver dollar- as flipped and flaunted in innumerable westerns.