| Forum Home | ||||
| Press F1 | ||||
| Thread ID: 39118 | 2003-10-28 04:53:00 | Size does matter ... | Graham L (2) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 187179 | 2003-10-29 02:59:00 | Gee you guys are really showing your age now. :D Interesting stuff though. :-) Hmm, I wonder what the measurements of today's coins are? I will have to wait until I get some more because it appears that my purse has been raided again. Incidentally, has anyone else visited the Llantrisant Royal Mint coin factory in Wales? Poppa John? It was quite awesome being in the midst of a money making factory with machines pounding out coins for all around the world by thousand (million?). Needless to say, security was very tight. :D Apparently the tours closed down ten years ago so I was quite lucky to see it. :-) |
Susan B (19) | ||
| 187180 | 2003-10-29 03:17:00 | All the coins (6d=5c, 1/- =10c, 2/- (florin) =20c) which have an exact equivalence are the same size (and weight). They had to be the same, to keep coin machines working. (Metal coins last so well that there will still be some in circulation.) I've just measured a 20c --- 28 mm diameter. The florin is an interesting unit. As well as the Dutch florin, the French franc used to be of an equal value. The 2/6 (half-crown) used to be called "half a dollar" --- even in NZ. Until some time after WWI, the US dollar was worth 4 or 5 shillings. :D I happened to have a farthing in my bag, so I measured it. :D I didn't have a groat, though. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 187181 | 2003-10-29 03:49:00 | > All the coins (6d=5c, 1/- =10c, 2/- (florin) =20c) which have an exact equivalence are the same size (and weight) . They had to be the same, to keep coin machines working . Yes, that is why I was wondering . It is the die that stamps the coin's imprint on it that they change and a big run is done for whatever coin is required before they change it for the next coin . It makes a lot of sense to keep the actual diameter and weight the same to keep the costs of production (ie the machinery) down . |
Susan B (19) | ||
| 187182 | 2003-10-29 03:57:00 | Ahem, the machines I meant were the ones you buy things from. :D I suppose you can't buy anything with the "silver" coins now. But at the changeover time ("on the 10th of July") the money was still worth something. In fact our dollar was worth two US. :O Isn't our series of economic miracles wonderful? | Graham L (2) | ||
| 187183 | 2003-10-29 03:58:00 | Oh well, no one seems to know about the Honolulu penny not even Graham. Pennies had Brittania sitting on her throne on the 'tails' side of a penny, holding a trident in her left hand, (thats as in Neptune, not Triumph bikes), and a shield with the union jack on it down at her right side. Now the position of the trident varied with different issues of the penny, with most, the end of the trident most definitely rested on the ground just in front of her. With other issues the end of the trident rested on her..... er........well, 'honolulu'. :D |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 187184 | 2003-10-29 04:06:00 | I knew about Boadacea and her fishing pole, but I was looking for something more subtle ... though the only pennies and halfpennies in my bag have George V on them (~ 1902-1936), and there isn't much difference. A site says there were differences in the head of the trident ... some decorative and some not ... but I had the idea that most of those changes were done in young Vicky's time. I did find that places in Honolulu would, for a charge, put a US "penny" through rollers and put shop logos on them as souvenirs. That's illegal here, and probably there. :DF |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 187185 | 2003-10-29 04:07:00 | The weights were arranged also, not only so that slot machines would work, but primarily so that all silver and all copper coins could be weighed by banks, cashiers etc, rather than being counted individually. You couldnt mix copper and silver for weighing they had to be separate. Before 1922, silver coins in the UK were 92.5% silver, it changed to 50% sometime later, cant remember, then in 1947? they changed to worthless cupro-nickel. May have the dates a bit mixed. Just before decimalisation it paid to sort through change and collect all silver coins. They could be sold for well over twice face value to coin dealers depending on age and condition. It was actually against the law to deface a coin of the realm, including melting down, but I dont think that stopped anyone. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 187186 | 2003-10-29 04:18:00 | > I did find that places in Honolulu would, for a > charge, put a US "penny" through rollers and put > shop logos on them as souvenirs. That's illegal > here, and probably there. :DF Actually Graham if you travel on the cook strait ferries "Arahura" they have a machine that you put a 5cent coin into & converts it into a souvenir for you, costs a couple of dollars I think by memory. When we we kids we made our own souvenirs by placing a coin on the railway track & waiting for the train to do its thing :D Cheers Steve |
Steve Askew (119) | ||
| 187187 | 2003-10-29 04:24:00 | > I didn't have a groat, though . The Groat is 26 mm in diameter, and weighs 4 . 1 grammes I am surprised you don't have one? |
godfather (25) | ||
| 187188 | 2003-10-29 04:25:00 | That's a whole weeks wages. And it's Wednesday. I do like to eat. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 1 2 3 | |||||