On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:37:13 +0100, Michael Hoffman
wrote:

Lemmy wrote:

18 May 1965: "What is claimed to be the only robot railway ticket
collector in the world began work at 7 a.m. at Acton Town Underground
station, London. Automatic Bill, as the staff call the machine,
swallows tickets like oysters, and coughs up the bad ones."

Nice word choice.

Who knew they could see nearly 40 years into the future?

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:43:42 +0100, Lemmy wrote:

An LTE
Inspector testified that even the Archbishop of Canterbury would be
asked to pay again if he could not produce a ticket on exit.

But not the Prime Minister's wife...

On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:20:26 +0200 (CEST), Peter Campbell Smith
wrote:

(At the time, I was on a student union committee, and we pledged to convert
all our prices at the official conversion rate. We had a complaint that at
the old prices, one scoop of mashed potato was 4d and two scoops were 8d,
but applying official conversion rates, one scoop was now 1.5p and two
scoops were 3.5p.)

I'd always been told that student unions in the late 60s/early 70s
were hotbeds of radicalism, dedicated to overthrowing the bourgeoisie,
occupying university buildings, and probably providing affordable
public transport for all (desperate attempt to remain on-topic). So I
find Peter's revelation, that in fact they concerned themselves with
the price of mash, quite reassuring

Martin

MIG wrote:
sweller wrote:

Peter Masson wrote:

Weren't the coins enormous? The two shillings is the same diameter as
the current #2 coin, while both the penny and the half-crown are larger.
I found a tin with a load of old coins in - by old, I mean post 1971 -
and I was surprised at the size of the 50p and 10p. No wonder I always
had holes in my trouser pockets.

In a way it's a shame that the 5p shrank in 1990 and 10p in 1992
(can't remember when the 50p shrank). Before that you used to get
loads of funny old coins still in circulation after a very long time.

I understood that the reason why 5p and 10p were made exactly the same
size and weight as 1s and 2s was because so many people had slot
meters that would have had to be replaced. Decimalisation was in 1971,
but 5p and 10p were minted from 1968 and 50p from 1969 (hence the 1970
2s being odd) and 1s and 2s stayed in circulation as 5p and 10p of
course.

But given that 1/- is exactly one twentieth of a pound, and 2/- is
exactly a tenth, it makes sense that the replacement coin for the same
value, ie 5p and 10p be essentially the same coin, and by extention,
that the old coins remain in circulation. I certainly enjoyed getting
change with a king's rather than queen's head on it. I never happened
upon any older than about 1950, but still...

Robin

I did once find a 1938 2s in my change, but I think that the reason
why you hardly ever saw any dated before 1947 was that that was the
first year when there wasn't any silver content.

"R.C. Payne" wrote

But given that 1/- is exactly one twentieth of a pound, and 2/- is
exactly a tenth, it makes sense that the replacement coin for the same
value, ie 5p and 10p be essentially the same coin, and by extention,
that the old coins remain in circulation. I certainly enjoyed getting
change with a king's rather than queen's head on it. I never happened
upon any older than about 1950, but still...

Until the 1960s it was not that unusual to get 19th century coins - with
Queen Victoria's head - usually pennies but very occasionally silver coins.
Until the new small 5p came in shillings dating back to 1816 were legal
tender, though I don't think I ever saw George III, George IV, or William
III examples. There were also occasional press stories of silver groats
(4d - not Maundy examples) surfacing, being mistaken for silver 3d or
sixpences.

Peter

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:33:01 +0100, "R.C. Payne"
wrote:

MIG wrote:
sweller wrote:

Peter Masson wrote:

Weren't the coins enormous? The two shillings is the same diameter as
the current #2 coin, while both the penny and the half-crown are larger.
I found a tin with a load of old coins in - by old, I mean post 1971 -
and I was surprised at the size of the 50p and 10p. No wonder I always
had holes in my trouser pockets.

In a way it's a shame that the 5p shrank in 1990 and 10p in 1992
(can't remember when the 50p shrank). Before that you used to get
loads of funny old coins still in circulation after a very long time.

I understood that the reason why 5p and 10p were made exactly the same
size and weight as 1s and 2s was because so many people had slot
meters that would have had to be replaced. Decimalisation was in 1971,
but 5p and 10p were minted from 1968 and 50p from 1969 (hence the 1970
2s being odd) and 1s and 2s stayed in circulation as 5p and 10p of
course.

But given that 1/- is exactly one twentieth of a pound, and 2/- is
exactly a tenth, it makes sense that the replacement coin for the same
value, ie 5p and 10p be essentially the same coin, and by extention,
that the old coins remain in circulation. I certainly enjoyed getting
change with a king's rather than queen's head on it. I never happened
upon any older than about 1950, but still...

By the time decimalisation arrived much of the "silver" which really
was silver (50% to 1946, sterling silver to 1919) had disappeared into
back-street smelters due to the metal value exceeding the face value
of the coins. The same happened later to some extent with pennies and
halfpennies and later with decimal bronze coins (which are now plated
steel).

I did once find a 1938 2s in my change, but I think that the reason
why you hardly ever saw any dated before 1947 was that that was the
first year when there wasn't any silver content.

On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:46:59 +0100, "A.C.P.Crawshaw"
wrote:

wrote:

On the barcelona Metro there are signs saying things such as the
penalty for not having a cvaild ticket is 30 Euros and 5 cents. No
doubt the result of some very fair currency conversion.

I noticed that too, on a recent visit. Very odd.

Exact conversion of 5000 pesetas.
The rest of us just used 1000 pesetas = 6 Euros, but officialdom loves
to be precise.
--
Bill Hayles
http://www.rossrail.com

In article ,
(Martin Edwards) wrote:

The day before the switch, the price of most beer was 3/- per pint.
The day of the switch, it was the equivalent price of 15p. The
day after it was 16p, a swingeing rise at the time, though it pales
into insignificance today.

My first decimal pint was 13p. What I can't remember is the pre-decimal
equivalent, probably 2/6.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article , peter.masson1
@privacy.net says...

"R.C. Payne" wrote

But given that 1/- is exactly one twentieth of a pound, and 2/- is
exactly a tenth, it makes sense that the replacement coin for the same
value, ie 5p and 10p be essentially the same coin, and by extention,
that the old coins remain in circulation. I certainly enjoyed getting
change with a king's rather than queen's head on it. I never happened
upon any older than about 1950, but still...

Until the 1960s it was not that unusual to get 19th century coins - with
Queen Victoria's head - usually pennies but very occasionally silver coins.
Until the new small 5p came in shillings dating back to 1816 were legal
tender, though I don't think I ever saw George III, George IV, or William
III examples. There were also occasional press stories of silver groats
(4d - not Maundy examples) surfacing, being mistaken for silver 3d or
sixpences.

Peter




In the early sixties on a number 9 bus going to the Albert Hall a
passenger offered a coin to the conductor to pay her fare. The
conductor didn't like the look of it but I managed to catch sight of it
and exchanged it for another shilling. It was a rather clapped-out
George IV one from 1820. This was the oldest legal tender coin I've
ever seen in circulation.

Slightly off-topic, in earlier days I was an avid coin collector and
whilst doing National Service bought an Edward I penny by post from
Seaby's. This was a silver coin similar in size to a sixpence. I had
it in my shirt pocket when visiting a fair with my then lady love. We
went on a dodgem and I put some change from this in the same pocket.
The girl concerned wanted another turn so we sat in the dodgem and I
paid again. Back at camp I went to look at the newly arrived penny and
discoverd I only had a modern sixpence there. I often wonder what the
fairground bloke thought about the coin I'd given him!

On Jun 11, 2008, MIG wrote:
I understood that the reason why 5p and 10p were made exactly the same
size and weight as 1s and 2s was because so many people had slot
meters that would have had to be replaced.

And of course they both had to be changed at about the same time because
the weight of 2x5p = 1x10p. Very handy for banks etc.

--
Kirk