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
It looks like a euro.
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.
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.
Will there also be shillings and farthings like they had in the past?
If not, why not?
Make sure you unload all your legacy £1 coins before they become worthless.. ;-)
£sd RIP