New pee. Such an ugly phrase, introduced this day in 1971 with the decimalisation of the currency. It was, I suppose, to differentiate it from the outgoing old pennies – or pence: huge copper items which carried every monarch’s head from Queen Victoria onwards. On the reverse was the image of Britannia and the year. In written form, the old penny was “D/d” as in the Roman denarius. Most of them were tarnished dark brown or black. The old Victorian, Edwardian or George V ones were heavily worn.
Cui bono? Well, I suppose it was easier to teach and to learn.
But what did we lose? We lost the thrupenny bit and the Tanner (6d). We lost the bob (12d), the sov (sovereign, old pound: archaic), the crown (5s = 60d) and the half-crown (2/6 = 30d). We lost the ten bob note – that’s 50p to younger readers. Thankfully the word “quid” has survived. But let’s face it, it was an altogether more colourful currency than that which we have today.
Why did we have to learn the twelve times table? That’s the reason. You had to be pretty good at basic mental arithmetic to know you had the right change when you bought your newspaper. I contend that our complex currency made us a more numerate people before 1971.
Somehow the guinea survived, a wonderful anachronism. It remains the currency unit of choice at livestock sales and the Turf. It is worth, bizarrely, £1.05, or 21 shillings old money. The guinea was introduced during the reign of Charles II. Struck from pure west African gold (hence Guinea), it had an initial value of 20 shillings. But as the value of gold increased over time, its value went up to as much as 27 shillings. Eventually in the early 19C it was pegged at 21s. Strictly the currency of the wealthy (few ordinary people had more than a quid to spend back then), the guinea was used in horse and livestock sales, gambling, the art market and so on.
I realise that all this makes me sound a grumpy old reactionary: I don’t care.
Long live the mighty guinea!
Mike Paterson
We went decimal in Australia on 14 Feb 1966, so when I hit England in Jan 1971, the changeover in English currency was a breeze for me. But I do recall the old currency, and in many ways, it certainly had more character than today’s currency.
I never heard a 2 bob piece described as a sov (maybe a London thing?). To me it was two bob, though it was technically known as a florin. Half crowns were more common and had many nicknames (two and a kick, half a dollar) and the jingle said “1001 cleans a big, big carpet, for less than half a crown”.
I think we had already lost the threepenny bit before decimalisation, like the old ha’penny. I remember my aunties bemoaning the loss of the old silver thrupenny bit (of which they had kept few as souvenirs) and I also remember farthings (1/4 d) which I think had a robin on the back, though they were out of use by the time I had money.
When my mum went to the posh shops in Liverpool (EG George Henry Lee – part of John Lewis) she would buy a frock for 5 guineas or something. In Marks and Sparks it would probably have been 29/11d (29 shillings and elevenpence) or as near as dammit £1.50 between friends.
The old penny died a death instantly and the half crown very quickly after decimalisation but the tanner (2.5p) florin (10p) and bob (5p) lived on, the latter two being gradually replaced by 10 and 5p pieces of identical size and weight. There was also a tiny 1/2p piece for a while because people were worried about the inflationary effects of the smallest unit of currency being 2.4 times as valuable as the old one.
A few shops resisted the change and The Kings Head in Upper Street Islington continued to price in old money for years (decades) after the change but they seem to have got with the programme now
Thanks. You are right. I had the sov thing completely wrong, now amended. Very old version of pound, but I think, as you suggest, used by cockneys in speech.
I remember all the pre-decimal coinage, perfectly.
At one time, I had assiduously saved a coin of every year of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901), some in near-perfect condition. There were Halfpennies, Pennies, Threepences, Sixpences, Shillings, Florins, Half-Crowns.
This stopped, one day, after my dear mother (God Bless her), short of change for the milkman, decided to “borrow all those old coins of yours, upstairs, to pay the milkman. I’ll pay you back when your father gets home”.
Thanks, mum.
I feel faint!
Thank you, Mike.
That does help.
Best Wishes.