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So I was watching an Old Dr Who (Seeds of Doom) and there was a bit of discusion about Pounds, Shillings guinnes(sp?) and it got me to thinking about other BBC shows I watch and my not knowing how some ofd the currency works. So would one of you like to break it down for me?
I know Pounds=Dollars basicly.
Does Tupence mean two cents?
How many Guinnes(sp?) to a pound?
How much is a farthing? Do you even use farthings anymore??

No to all, even the ones you can't answer with no.
Except for the two pence= two cents, that's kinda true.
Britain reformed it's currency in the seventies (or thereabouts) and no longer uses half of those coins.
These days it's just pounds and pence, in a simpler system.

Nicorex wrote:So I was watching an Old Dr Who (Seeds of Doom) and there was a bit of discusion about Pounds, Shillings guinnes(sp?) and it got me to thinking about other BBC shows I watch and my not knowing how some ofd the currency works. So would one of you like to break it down for me?
I know Pounds=Dollars basicly.
Does Tupence mean two cents?
How many Guinnes(sp?) to a pound?
How much is a farthing? Do you even use farthings anymore??

We haven't used anything other than pounds and pence for a while now but the general rundown is now is.

Pounds are worth more than but fill the same role as american dollars.
A penny is 1/100 of a pound so fill the same role as american cents.
Tuppence still exists as a two pence coin which is worth two pennies.

Shillings, guineas and whatnot were phased out in the early 70's.

Okay thanks. But how much was a shilling worth back then? and guineas?
I get that you dont use them anymore. Im just wanting to understand the old DrWho's and other period shows from the BBC I watch.

And what's a quid? Is that slang for a pound?

Nicorex wrote:Okay thanks. But how much was a shilling worth back then? and guineas?
I get that you dont use them anymore. Im just wanting to understand the old DrWho's and other period shows from the BBC I watch.

There used to be 240 pennies in a pound and a shilling was worth 20 pennies.

A guinea was one pound and one shilling.

@micahaphone- Yes.

Simply our currency is split into Pounds and Penies which are the same as US dolars and cents but with different values.

1pound =100 penies.

All of our coins are just different values of these two.

4M2A wrote:@micahaphone- Yes.

Simply our currency is split into Pounds and Penies which are the same as US dolars and cents but with different values.

1pound =100 penies.

All of our coins are just different values of these two.

What pictures, in general, do you have on the back side of the coin? I'm assuming that the front has pictures of famous government officials and/or royalty, similar to the US, but what do you have on the other side? What can compete with eagles, torches, and cool buildings?

corpsesarefun wrote:

Nicorex wrote:Okay thanks. But how much was a shilling worth back then? and guineas?
I get that you dont use them anymore. Im just wanting to understand the old DrWho's and other period shows from the BBC I watch.

There used to be 240 pennies in a pound and a shilling was worth 20 pennies.

A guinea was one pound and one shilling.

A shilling is worth 12 pence, there are twenty of them to the pound. A shilling is equivalent to 5p in 'new' money.

George Spiggott wrote:

corpsesarefun wrote:

Nicorex wrote:Okay thanks. But how much was a shilling worth back then? and guineas?
I get that you dont use them anymore. Im just wanting to understand the old DrWho's and other period shows from the BBC I watch.

There used to be 240 pennies in a pound and a shilling was worth 20 pennies.

A guinea was one pound and one shilling.

A shilling is worth 12 pence, there are twenty of them to the pound. A shilling is equivalent to 5p in 'new' money.

I meant that.

LSD
Pounds (L) Shillings (s) and Pence (d) was the pre decimalisation coinage upto Feb 1971.

The exchange rate until the devaluation in the mid sixties was $4 to the pound
Therefore a dollar was worth 5s. or a crown, but was also referred to colloquially as a dollar.

A farthing was a 1/4d

May be wrong but the extra shilling on the pound in a guinea was the commission in auctions (for horses)

micahaphone wrote:

4M2A wrote:@micahaphone- Yes.

Simply our currency is split into Pounds and Penies which are the same as US dolars and cents but with different values.

1pound =100 penies.

All of our coins are just different values of these two.

What pictures, in general, do you have on the back side of the coin? I'm assuming that the front has pictures of famous government officials and/or royalty, similar to the US, but what do you have on the other side? What can compete with eagles, torches, and cool buildings?

Well On one side of a coin we have the Queen's head the other side varies every time they make a new batch of coins.

Just a random pick from my wallet
1 penny has what looks like a royal gate sort of thing.
2 Pence has a crown with 3 feather coming from it
5 pence has a Scottish thislte and crown on that
10 pence has the British Lion with a crown on.
50 Pence has Britania ? I cannae remember the name of her.
Pound has A lion surrounded by some floral ring
and the 2 pound Has some funky ass pattern on it which I have no idea what it is.

I also have a pound coin with royal coat of arms
Another with thistle coming through a crown
Another with some Arch building
And a 5 pence which is part of the coins they released in 2010 which, with a 50 pence a 10 pence a 2 pence and one pence, makes the royal coat of arms if that what it is. and the pound coin of 2010 chows the completed image.

I'm not rich enough to own notes in my wallet at the moment so I can't tell you that

micahaphone wrote:

4M2A wrote:@micahaphone- Yes.

Simply our currency is split into Pounds and Penies which are the same as US dolars and cents but with different values.

1pound =100 penies.

All of our coins are just different values of these two.

What pictures, in general, do you have on the back side of the coin? I'm assuming that the front has pictures of famous government officials and/or royalty, similar to the US, but what do you have on the other side? What can compete with eagles, torches, and cool buildings?

The Queens mug shot, and on the other side either a segment or the whole of the Royal Shield of Arms.
Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_pound_sterling

50 Pence has Britania ? I cannae remember the name of her.

Think you mean Brigantia

Most likely do thanking you

It is indeed Brittania. Was being parochial (which is nothing to do with Jimminey Cricket)

She is based on the goddess that presided over the Brigantes, a Celtic tribe whose area roughly equates to Yorkshire.

The three feathers are the Triple Ostrich Feathers of the Prince of Wales.

The fathing had a wren on the tails side of the flip which was really cute..

To quote Good Omens...

"NOTE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND AMERICANS: One shilling = Five Pee. It helps to understand the antique finances of the Witchfinder Army if you know the original British monetary system:

Two farthings = One Ha'penny. Two ha'pennies = One Penny. Three pennies = A Thrupenny Bit. Two Thrupences = A Sixpence. Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob. Two Bob = A Florin. One Florin and one Sixpence = Half a Crown. Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note. Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (or 240 pennies). One Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea.

The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated."

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens

The UK had the most antequated coinage system in the western world, and likely anywhere else. By going to a decimal system however they didnt actually modernise, but go back further.

Pounds, shillings and pence came to be because of a crisis in the coinage system in the late middle ages, as coinage was roughly based on real valuie, coins had some silver content and bank notes were still in their original format there wasnt enough currency to meet the needs of the economy. So higher value coins were needed. Again that already existed through gold coinage.
eventaully every nation decimalised in one fashion or another, with the UK being the last to go.

The odd quirk was that prior to the expansion of the coinage system, we are talking from late Rome to the Renaissance there was only one coin, the penny and three efective values: the penny itself, the Pound, which had no coin or note but was equal to a hundred pennies and the Mark which was two thirds of a pound. The Germans claimed part of the heritage by having pennies and marks, though a hundred pennies made a Mark. The Uk in fact went back to the dark ages with its coinage system, though not quite as different denomination coins exist whereupon they did not.

As for coinage worth less than a penny, there was a half pence coin though the half pence is no longer legal tender. Medieval coinage was simpler, each coin was marked with a cross. This equal sided cross didnt have direct relgious symbolism, though one could be inferred but was an indication of where to cut the coin. It was legal to cut a coin in half for a halfpence, or into quarters for farthings. Though you couldn't snip bits of silver from the coin, thats 'tonsury' a very serious offense.

Two thruppences were a tanner get it right Mr Pratchett

Fancy using a duodecimal system for anythi...

....oh wait!

Cool thanks for the info. This will help while I watch Garrows Law. I am enjoying it.

A tad off topic but ... a Quid is a slang term used to denote a quantity of £1pound coins such as "I owe six quid" But also, and more interestingly ... The term "Quid" will take on a new meaning in years to come when Space travel becomes more easily attained. The Quid (Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination) has been developed by British scientists to be durable in anticipation of Space Tourism. I do not jest.

corpsesarefun wrote:

Nicorex wrote:Okay thanks. But how much was a shilling worth back then? and guineas?
I get that you dont use them anymore. Im just wanting to understand the old DrWho's and other period shows from the BBC I watch.

There used to be 240 pennies in a pound and a shilling was worth 20 pennies.

A guinea was one pound and one shilling.

Sweet baby Jebus. Was this designed with the intent of flummoxing German spies in the 40s so they could be easily caught?

So if I say "that cost me fifty quid" I am saying that cost 50 Pounds?

Yes

Don't be silly Frazzled

It was to baffle french monkey spies in the Napoleonic wars.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Don't be silly Frazzled

It was to baffle french monkey spies in the Napoleonic wars.

Touche' It is wrong to be French! WE will fight them on the beaches. We will fight them in the bistros. We will fight them in front of the fish and chips as they attempt to make change for three quid two guineas and five sovereigns!

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Don't be silly Frazzled

It was to baffle french monkey spies in the Napoleonic wars.

Hang them!

The monkey spies I mean, not the Germans who are our friends, until next time............

British Currency 101, the basics:

A Pound (symbol £) was the base unit, named for being equal in value to a pound of silver (at the time of Henry II reign in the 12th century).
A penny (symbol d for denarius, a roman coin) was the base sub-unit, and 240 of them made a Pound. Named for being worth a pennyweight of silver (again, in the 12th century).
A shilling (symbol s or /-) was worth 12 pennies and 20 of them made a pound. This was used to avoid having to count out 240 pennies to make a pound.

British Currency 102, the unusual coinage:

A guinea was worth one pound, one sterling ( £1-1s-0d or £1/1/- ). It was considered more "refined" than a Pound. If you were upper-class, you'd deal in guineas. Only peasants dealt with Pounds.
A florin was two shillings. ( 2s-0d or 2/- ).
A crown was five shillings.
A half-crown was two shillings and six pennies. ( 2s-6d or 2/6d )
A half-sovereign was 10/-.
A half-guinea was 10/6d.
A groat was 4d.
A half-groat was 2d.
A threepence was 3d.
A sixpence was 6d.
A farthing was one quarter of a penny.
A halfpenny was one half of a penny.

British Currency 103, slang:

A coin worth a Pound was called a Sovereign. A paper note worth a Pound was called a quid.
A shilling was called a Bob.
A crown was called a dollar.
A sixpence was called a tanner.
A penny was called a copper.
A threepence was called a Joey.
Ten pounds is called a Cockle.
£20 is called a score.
£25 is called a pony.
£100 is called a ton or a century.
£500 is called a monkey.
£2000 is called an Archer.
A handful of loose change is called a Shrapnel.

A handful of loose change is called Shrapnel.

Fixed, you can't have 'a' shrapnel

Grakmar wrote:British Currency 101, the basics:

A Pound (symbol £) was the base unit, named for being equal in value to a pound of silver (at the time of Henry II reign in the 12th century).
A penny (symbol d for denarius, a roman coin) was the base sub-unit, and 240 of them made a Pound. Named for being worth a pennyweight of silver (again, in the 12th century).
A shilling (symbol s or /-) was worth 12 pennies and 20 of them made a pound. This was used to avoid having to count out 240 pennies to make a pound.

British Currency 102, the unusual coinage:

A guinea was worth one pound, one sterling ( £1-1s-0d or £1/1/- ). It was considered more "refined" than a Pound. If you were upper-class, you'd deal in guineas. Only peasants dealt with Pounds.
A florin was two shillings. ( 2s-0d or 2/- ).
A crown was five shillings.
A half-crown was two shillings and six pennies. ( 2s-6d or 2/6d )
A half-sovereign was 10/-.
A half-guinea was 10/6d.
A groat was 4d.
A half-groat was 2d.
A threepence was 3d.
A sixpence was 6d.
A farthing was one quarter of a penny.
A halfpenny was one half of a penny.

British Currency 103, slang:

A coin worth a Pound was called a Sovereign. A paper note worth a Pound was called a quid.
A shilling was called a Bob.
A crown was called a dollar.
A sixpence was called a tanner.
A penny was called a copper.
A threepence was called a Joey.
Ten pounds is called a Cockle.
£20 is called a score.
£25 is called a pony.
£100 is called a ton or a century.
£500 is called a monkey.
£2000 is called an Archer.
A handful of loose change is called a Shrapnel.

This is right, the British resisted decimilisation for a long time as we thought that it would make our monetary system far too complicated.

Ah, so it's basically like America and the metric system.