NFR Decimal currency

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

To the best of my knowledge ' half a dollar' was used because for some time there were four dollars to one pound exchange rate. A dollar was therefore five shillings.

[ALG01]

actually the church at the end of putney bridge near kings road used to have a man that looked after the gate. and for half a crown he would let you park in that little road and he kept your car safe.
And then one day it was no longer allowed

[Holders]

people of my parents generation used to say things like

I remeber when half a crown was half a crown
OR
That was when a shilling was a shilling

6d was a tanner and half a crown, 2/6, was half a dollar (as said above).

Why was 2s a florin? a shilling was a bob so 9s was 9bob

I remeber a phrase  as bent as a nine bob note

I recall maths was impossible because of the monetary system and percentages a totla nightmare.

I never had a problem working in old money.

The difficulty for me in changing to metric currency was grasping the change in value e.g. 20p was not 2 shillings but 4 shillings (there was even a school of thought in the iteration leading up to the change that the value of £1 should be halved to avoid this sort of thing). 

What's harder for me is metric measurements which I still find very hard to picture whereas 10 or 12 inches is easy. I know that I generally have to order in metric but always work in English to avoid errors.

A friend who was working in Greece was ordering materials and the yard queried his measurements "that's very big for the job". He was ordering in "mill" (as used in the semi-metric UK) whereas they use centimeters. Most UK builders' years still talk in 2x1 or 4x2 so you'd ask for 2.4 (meters) of 2x1. Sheet materials are still 8x4 or 4x2. Easy once you get the hang of it!

[Holders]

To the best of my knowledge ' half a dollar' was used because for some time there were four dollars to one pound exchange rate. A dollar was therefore five shillings.

Interesting, didn't know that. I remember when a dollar was 7/3d so not quite three to the pound.

[sunburywhite]

To the best of my knowledge ' half a dollar' was used because for some time there were four dollars to one pound exchange rate. A dollar was therefore five shillings.

In 1940, the British government devalued the Pound to around $4 for every £1

Nobody has mentioned guineas yet which were £1 and 1 shilling £1/1/-

[Holders]

To the best of my knowledge ' half a dollar' was used because for some time there were four dollars to one pound exchange rate. A dollar was therefore five shillings.

In 1940, the British government devalued the Pound to around $4 for every £1

Nobody has mentioned guineas yet which were £1 and 1 shilling £1/1/-

Some auctions still work in guineas.

[dgnffc]

i remember singles being 6/8 -priced so there were 3 for £1

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

In about 1962 when I was a cashier with Midland Bank in the days of 'proper' banks we had daily currency exchange rate sheets but I could change dollars without looking because it was 7/6d .

[bigalffc]

My first memory is that because decimals came in my bus fare to work went up by a happeny. Handling accounts, as I was then became much easier though.

[HV71]

it was a wren

Thanks White JC - no wonder I never took up bird watching !

[filham]

What about 10 shilling notes and thrupenny bits

Ah, 10-bob notes - now you're taking birthdays!

Ah that thrupenny bit was a lovely coin, nothing quite like it all over the world. Also don't forget the small silver one, bet they have increased in value.

[LittleErn]

I was lecturing in business studies in 1971 and got the job of running short courses for wages clerks in the run up to D day. They were mostly ladies, and over the years had perfected their own methods of getting exactly the right quantities of different value coins from the bank to make up the pay packets. (Yes most people were still paid in cash then.) They were all worried stiff over decimalisation, but they took to it very well and found it easy. so much so that they then worried that they must have misunderstood it because it really must be harder! I think prices did go up marginally at the time. Shopkeepers would often price things at 19/6d to be just short of a pound, but that became 99p which is nearer to 9/9d. 

[Enfield]

You had to have an agile mind in those days, If you bought something for 49/11 1/2 ( forty nine shillings and eleven pence ha'penny and handed over a ten bob note you did'nt want to be short changed!
All in your head and before pocket calculators and electronic tills. 

[Holders]

I was lecturing in business studies in 1971 and got the job of running short courses for wages clerks in the run up to D day. They were mostly ladies, and over the years had perfected their own methods of getting exactly the right quantities of different value coins from the bank to make up the pay packets. (Yes most people were still paid in cash then.) They were all worried stiff over decimalisation, but they took to it very well and found it easy. so much so that they then worried that they must have misunderstood it because it really must be harder! I think prices did go up marginally at the time. Shopkeepers would often price things at 19/6d to be just short of a pound, but that became 99p which is nearer to 9/9d. 

Yes, for both £sd or £p, wages clerks had charts to work out the values of each required. Other teams rounded up or down to the nearest £ or whatever and kept a running balance for each individual, adjusted weekly. Many people were very reluctant to go over to bank transfer but I assume most have now.

[sunburywhite]

You had to have an agile mind in those days, If you bought something for 49/11 1/2 ( forty nine shillings and eleven pence ha'penny and handed over a ten bob note you did'nt want to be short changed!
All in your head and before pocket calculators and electronic tills. 

You would have had to hand over 5 ten bob notes and only get 1/2 penny change

[keithh]

I was working for BR at Liverpool Street Station at the time and we actuallty went on a 2 hour course to "learn" how to deal with decimal currency.

[ALG01]

people of my parents generation used to say things like

I remeber when half a crown was half a crown
OR
That was when a shilling was a shilling

6d was a tanner and half a crown, 2/6, was half a dollar (as said above).

Why was 2s a florin? a shilling was a bob so 9s was 9bob

I remeber a phrase  as bent as a nine bob note

I recall maths was impossible because of the monetary system and percentages a totla nightmare.

I never had a problem working in old money.

The difficulty for me in changing to metric currency was grasping the change in value e.g. 20p was not 2 shillings but 4 shillings (there was even a school of thought in the iteration leading up to the change that the value of £1 should be halved to avoid this sort of thing). 

What's harder for me is metric measurements which I still find very hard to picture whereas 10 or 12 inches is easy. I know that I generally have to order in metric but always work in English to avoid errors.

A friend who was working in Greece was ordering materials and the yard queried his measurements "that's very big for the job". He was ordering in "mill" (as used in the semi-metric UK) whereas they use centimeters. Most UK builders' years still talk in 2x1 or 4x2 so you'd ask for 2.4 (meters) of 2x1. Sheet materials are still 8x4 or 4x2. Easy once you get the hang of it!

height is still feet and inches for me work is metric

weight is always stone, pounds and ounces except judo where I work entirely in Kgs (how is that possible?)

speed is mph and fuel mpg

but science is 100% metric and I now do weather in degrees C but body temp remains in deg F

Just our generation!

[LittleErn]

people of my parents generation used to say things like

I remeber when half a crown was half a crown
OR
That was when a shilling was a shilling

6d was a tanner and half a crown, 2/6, was half a dollar (as said above).

Why was 2s a florin? a shilling was a bob so 9s was 9bob

I remeber a phrase  as bent as a nine bob note

I recall maths was impossible because of the monetary system and percentages a totla nightmare.

I never had a problem working in old money.

The difficulty for me in changing to metric currency was grasping the change in value e.g. 20p was not 2 shillings but 4 shillings (there was even a school of thought in the iteration leading up to the change that the value of £1 should be halved to avoid this sort of thing). 

What's harder for me is metric measurements which I still find very hard to picture whereas 10 or 12 inches is easy. I know that I generally have to order in metric but always work in English to avoid errors.

A friend who was working in Greece was ordering materials and the yard queried his measurements "that's very big for the job". He was ordering in "mill" (as used in the semi-metric UK) whereas they use centimeters. Most UK builders' years still talk in 2x1 or 4x2 so you'd ask for 2.4 (meters) of 2x1. Sheet materials are still 8x4 or 4x2. Easy once you get the hang of it!

height is still feet and inches for me work is metric

weight is always stone, pounds and ounces except judo where I work entirely in Kgs (how is that possible?)

speed is mph and fuel mpg

but science is 100% metric and I now do weather in degrees C but body temp remains in deg F

Just our generation!

Me too Algo! Thank God I can still get a pint of ale (When they re-open).

[Fulham Tup North]

To the best of my knowledge ' half a dollar' was used because for some time there were four dollars to one pound exchange rate. A dollar was therefore five shillings.

In 1940, the British government devalued the Pound to around $4 for every £1

Nobody has mentioned guineas yet which were £1 and 1 shilling £1/1/-

Some auctions still work in guineas.

It used to be that you could still buy horses in Guineas.... i presume like most things that has changed too.
I still call 50p, Ten Bob....  but I do it mostly to annoy the kids 😉👍🤗

[filham]

I remember what a mess my exercise book was at primary school was with all those  £sd sums crossed out, corrected and with blot marks. All done it real wet ink, no ball point pens at that time.
Of course the old imperial system had certain advantages, for instance the pound could be equally shared among 2.3.4,5 6,8,9 &10 people.
D day wasn't just relevant to money, distances and weights and measures also went metric . It was one of the prices we had to pay for becoming a member of the Common Market