February 15

[H]

[color=#003300]1898 - An undetermined explosion took the

[expat]

1971 - What was the change from and to with British and Irish currrency?

8-)

We went from a monetary system that only your grandparents could figure out to base 100. [smiley=laugh.gif]

Matt

[H]

We went from a monetary system that only your grandparents could figure out to base 100. [smiley=laugh.gif]
Matt

Are your grandparents still extant? If so, could they please explain the reasoning behind the former system - or was there one - I've barely a clue?

8-)

[expat]

We went from a monetary system that only your grandparents could figure out to base 100. [smiley=laugh.gif]
Matt

Are your grandparents still extant? If so, could they please explain the reasoning behind the former system - or was there one - I've barely a clue?

8-)

No, been grandparent less for many years now. Maybe Fozzer could clear it up for us

Matt

[Hagar]

We went from a monetary system that only your grandparents could figure out to base 100. [smiley=laugh.gif]
Matt

Are your grandparents still extant? If so, could they please explain the reasoning behind the former system - or was there one - I've barely a clue?

Anyone over 40 should remember the good old Imperial currency. It was in use until 1971 & was actually perfectly logical. Nobody I know had a problem with it - except for them blasted furriners.

Of course, this was before the PC changed everything & it had always been like it.

Pounds, shillings, and pence

The coinage used in Victorian Britain had been much the same for three hundred years and was based on a system which had existed for more than a millennium. It lasted until 1971 when the currency was finally decimalised and the pound was divided into 100 smaller units. Similar changes were made to the currency in Ireland and several Commonwealth countries which still used Britain's ancient coinage system.


In Britain the pound Sterling was (and is) the central unit of money. Prior to decimalization the pound was divided into twenty shillings and each shilling was divided into twelve pennies or pence. Although those divisions may seem odd, in fact having a pound divided into 240 equal parts does mean it can be exactly divided into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, twelfths, fifteenths, sixteenths, twentieths, twenty-fourths, thirtieths, fortieths, forty-eightieths, sixtieths, eightieths, and one-hundred-and-twentieths. A decimal system allows precise division only into halves, quarters, fifths, tenths, twentieths, twenty-fifths, and fiftieths.

http://www.wilkiecollins.demon.co.uk/coinage/coins.htm

[WebbPA]

One thing I love/hate when I read Dickens is that the money makes absolutely no sense.

Doug's article makes it clear that it made little sense to the people of the time either.

"First (to get our thoughts in order) : Forty-three pence?"

I calculated the consequences of replying "Four Hundred Pounds," and, finding them against me, went as near the answer as I could -- which was about eightpence off. Mr. Pumblechook then put me through my pence-table from "twelve pence make one shilling," up to "forty pence make three and fourpence," and then triumphantly demanded, as if he had done for me, "Now! How much is forty-three pence?" To which I replied, after a long interval of reflection, "I don't know." And I was so aggravated that I almost doubt if I did know.

Mr. Pumblechook worked his head like a screw to screw it out of me, and said, "Is forty-three pence seven and sixpence three fardens, for instance?"

"Yes!" said I. And although my sister instantly boxed my ears, it was highly gratifying to me to see that the answer spoilt his joke, and brought him to a dead stop.

Only Dickens could come up with a character named Pumblechook.

[H]

Prior to decimalization the pound was divided into twenty shillings and each shilling was divided into twelve pennies or pence. Although those divisions may seem odd, in fact having a pound divided into 240 equal parts does mean it can be exactly divided into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, twelfths, fifteenths, sixteenths, twentieths, twenty-fourths, thirtieths, fortieths, forty-eightieths, sixtieths, eightieths, and one-hundred-and-twentieths.

So, if I factor this down, you're saying that the old system just naturally went all to pieces? :-?


P.S. Thanks

8-)

[Hagar]

One thing I love/hate when I read Dickens is that the money makes absolutely no sense.

Doug's article makes it clear that it made little sense to the people of the time either.

Dickens had obviously met people that had problems with it but that would have been in the middle of the Nineteenth Century when many people still had no formal education. I don't remember anyone having problems during my lifetime & even illiterate people soon find out how to handle money. It all depends on what you're used to & most people handle cash each & every day. The old pounds, shillings & pence were no more difficult to use than the Imperial weights & measures system still in use in the USA today. Most of the rest of the world converted to the metric system years ago.

"First (to get our thoughts in order) : Forty-three pence?"

That's easy enough. Divide 43 by 12.* Three (shillings) & sevenpence or three & seven.