50 Years of decimalisation

[Arran]

The last guinea coins were minted in 1814 but the term lived on until decimalisation and was most commonly encountered for solicitor's fees and auction prices. Some high class tailors and gentlemen's outfitting shops also quoted their prices in guineas, along with other businesses that wanted to make their prices look a bit cheaper than they were. Guineas appear to have been superseded after decimalisation by ending prices with 95p or 99p, although I think that they are still used in horse racing.

[Richard1978]

I've seen some adverts for TVs in the 1950s-60s in Guineas.

[George 1978]

I think that the word "guineas" in horse racing is just to continue tradition. Don't forget that when David Osuloga did that Bristol house in A House Through Time last year, the house was on a Guinea Street which has origins back to the early 18th century.

[Arran]

To be ultra pedantic, British currency isn't 100% decimal yet. Crown / 5 shilling coins from the 19th and early 20th century are still legal tender with a face value of 25p. The commemoration coins from the Queen's Silver Jubilee and Charles and Diana's wedding are also valued at 25p, so there is technically a decimal 25p coin in circulation.

[George 1978]

Do you think that Britain will officially become "100% decimal"?

[amethyst]

I'm so glad we kept Sterling and not had the Euro as our currency

[Arran]

Do you think that Britain will officially become "100% decimal"?

The crown coins, along with the gold sovereigns and half sovereigns are the last vestiges of the pre-decimal currency today.

Crown coins can only really be demonetised if the 25p commemoration coins are demonetised along with them.

[George 1978]

I'm so glad we kept Sterling and not had the Euro as our currency

I agree - I might have wanted to stay in the EU by voting Remain in the 2016 Referendum but I would never have voted to adopt the Euro.

[Arran]

I agree - I might have wanted to stay in the EU by voting Remain in the 2016 Referendum but I would never have voted to adopt the Euro.

My mother said that the consequences of a Remain victory would be far reaching. Britain may well have to kiss goodbye to Sterling and other EU 'opt-outs' - like the zero VAT on food and public transport - in less than 10 years from the EU Referendum.

[Richard1978]

My mother said that the consequences of a Remain victory would be far reaching. Britain may well have to kiss goodbye to Sterling and other EU 'opt-outs' - like the zero VAT on food and public transport - in less than 10 years from the EU Referendum.

Looks like the reality is far worse.

[Arran]

Looks like the reality is far worse.

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[HG]

Can we stay on topic please and leave Brexit out of it, thanks.

[George 1978]

Can we stay on topic please and leave Brexit out of it, thanks.

All I can say that when we went decimal back in 1971, we thankfully didn't have to worry about that sort of thing happening for obvious reasons.

[Richard1978]

I heard our government looked at the campaigns Australia & New Zealand ran when they switched to decimal currency a few years earlier.

[Arran]

I heard our government looked at the campaigns Australia & New Zealand ran when they switched to decimal currency a few years earlier.

I believe it was South Africa, which changed to a decimal currency in 1961.

The British government had been looking into a decimal currency as far back as 1824. The proposal was put forward in 1847, and in 1839 the first 2 shilling coins were minted with the words "One Florin - One Tenth of a Pound". The half crown ceased production a year later (but remained legal tender) as it did not fit into a decimal currency. The proposal seemed to have been abandoned in 1874 when the half crown resumed production.

It wasn't considered again until 1961 when the government launched the Committee of the Inquiry on Decimal Currency, whose 1963 report resulted in the government agreeing to adopt a decimal currency on 1 March 1966.

It was noteable that computers had difficulty handling calculations in pounds shillings and pence because it was a very awkward data type. Many British computers from the 1960s had extra circuits in the CPU to handle the pounds shillings and pence data type in order to eliminate having to code it into software. American computers did not have these extra circuits.