Posted on 03/15/2017 7:09:41 PM PDT by hanamizu
The new £1 coin comes into circulation this month, signalling the beginning of the end for the round pound, which will be completely phased out by 15 October.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Happens in a lot of countries where the money is worthless after a certain date because of something something something new president or whatever.
I think U.S. currency is invalid if it was before some change.
I think it can be converted if some conditions are met such as proof that it was legally obtained.
Sounds trendy, and ultimately worthless.
“how do Brits feel about having their money become worthless after a certain date?”
They’ll toss them in urinals in their favorite pubs, just like they do anytime they come across a penny in their pocket.
Been there, seen that.
> For what it is worth, the U.S. has never repudiated or demonetized any of its currency let alone its coinage <
Well, at one time a U.S. silver certificate bill could be redeemed for its value in actual silver coin. So if you had a $5 bill that was a silver certificate, you could turn it in for 5 silver dollars.
The Feds stopped that in 1968. The bill in my example was still worth $5, but it could no longer be redeemed for silver coin. So the Feds repudiated the “silver certificate” phrase that was on the bill.
When Canada first came out with a bi-metallic coin, the Twoonie (C$2), a number of the first batch fell apart, and they would accept the center piece as coin of the realm, so to speak.
TTIUWOP
The smarter ones make movies about people trying to get rid of the old currency before the expiration.
It looks like a euro.
No, all US currency is valid at face value (with the exception of the 1933 $20 gold piece which was never officially released). Now a 20-cent piece from the 1870s is worth much more than its 20¢ face value, but it is still legal tender.
Yes, they broke their promise to redeem in silver, but the note is still worth its face value. I have a bunch of $1 silver certificates, but they don’t have a lot of collector value and if you try and use one people don’t recognize it as a real $1 bill.
I agree with you. I would try to explain to my Jr High students the difference between a pre-1965 quarter and an older one. Same size, weight, design, but the silver coin has value no matter what is stamped on it. The newer ones only have value because the government says they do—just like paper money.
I was given a Morgan silver dollar by my Uncle when I was a baby in 1947. When my first Grandson was born, I gave it to my Daughter for him.
I looked up the value and a mint one was only worth around $10 at the time. I think it has increased a bit but still not worth a lot. I gave my Granddaughter a one dollar silver certificate knowing it was worth a dollar but still a keepsake.
I know of course that there has been rampant inflation over the years in the US just like everywhere else, but I think it has been held more in check in the US than elsewhere by the refusal to turn bank notes into coins.
When the pound coin came out it was seen as a substantial, chunky coin, it seemed to be worth a pound, now it is nothing more than loose change, used to put in the deposit slot for supermarket trolleys or to pay parking machines but little else.
At the same time UK coins were also miniaturised, from the big distinctive coins, favourably compared by Orwell with their tinny, insubstantial European counterparts (and many dating back a hundred years or more), now they are tiny little things use for very little, there are also an awful lot of them, pennies, two-pence, five-pence, ten-pence, twenty-pence, fifty-pence, pound coins and two-pound coins. They appear worthless.
By contrast the US only has four coins and then dollar bills, people know what a dollar bill is, they know how much it was worth in their youth and can see how its worth is declining and that can hold governments (to a limited extent) in check.
The UK through decimalisation and the rest of Europe through the introduction of the Euro don’t have that collective memory and governments can continually devalue the currency.
A silver dollar’s melt value is about $13.50, no matter how crummy it might look. I grew up in SoCal and my parents occasionally went to Vegas where they still used silver dollars as regular money. My mom has twenty or thirty of them from those times. I remember taking one to buy ice cream as a kid—two scoops for a dime. (But a lot of my change was silver coin).
They describe the new pound coin as twelve-sided; the original plan for the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was eleven-sided. Lobbying by the coin machine industry led to its redesign as a standard circular coin with an inscribed undecagon. The SBA dollar only lasted a few years, partly because it was almost the same size as the quarter, and the polygonal shape that was supposed to make it distinguishable had been abandoned.
I find it amazing how long Britain used their old coins. I have a giant two pence copper coin from around 1800 and I’ve read that they were used for bus/trolley fares for the better part of 100 years—it’s half the size of a hockey puck! As I understand it, Britain went from sterling (.925) for its silver coins to .50 as a result of WWI and replaced silver with copper nickel after WWII. But as you say after decimalization the link with the old coinage was broken.
The US cent, nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar are the same size (and except for the cent) weight as their counterparts in 1900. But of course the silver in the dimes, quarter and half dollars have been replaced with cheaper nickel copper. Even the copper in the cent had to be replaced.
My students are amazed when I tell them that I could buy a full-sized candy bar for 5¢ when I was a kid in the 50s, but I tell them nickels were harder for me to come by than dollars are for them. Can’t imagine the stories they’ll tell their grandkids.
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