Royal Mint devaluing our currency

[#1]

Two news items caught my attention to day... both regarding the 50pence piece ( ten shillings in old money)

Ten shillings, was a fortune... for some it was enough to feed a family for a day, and for others, it was a weeks wages.

The Royal Mint, is, I feel , devaluing our currency several times a year, by issuing 50p pieces with so called " commemorative value"...  and they had a few million made, ready for Brexit on Oct 31st...but according to the news report today... they have had to melt them all down, due to the EU postponing it until January next year..

OK... so .. not too bad...you may think... but...

How about a 50p piece  commemorating 30 years of Wallace & Grommit. ? ? ?  c`mon... that`s a joke... and devalues the coin, even if only in "respectability" terms...  Remember when the British Pound WAS a major currency..?  it was respected around the world.... will a W&G 50p be respected.... by anyone? 

Some "collectors" maybe...but they tend to fight amongst themselves regarding the value THEY place on the coins.

From an every day usage point... it will still be a " Wilsons Washer" to me...

Anyone know what that means ? ? ? 

[#2]

To my mind all these variations are a waste of money and resources. Who ever looks or cares about what's on the 'tails' of a coin?

I don't know about 10 bob being a weeks wages, except for my paper round, but I do remember when it would buy a gallon of beer. I guess we all have our own reference against which we judge inflation.

[#3]

Quite right @shutterwho would not rather have Flopsy bunny or Mrs Tittlemouse, makes perfect sense and so much more respectable  😛

[#4]

@Baldrick1  My sentiments, exactly..... I just hand over a certain amount of coinage, to the value of the product/service... never give it a look, really...

Postage stamps.... a different thing, though... cos lots of people, ( well a few ) still write and get letters in the post... and it`s kinda tradition for the post office to "celebrate" different things with their postage stamps.

[#5]

As a youngster during the ‘old money’ period we were always on the lookout for the rare 1933 penny and others.

Also, we carried a history lesson in our pockets, represented were all the Kings and Queens from Victoria through to the current monarch. Shame I missed the Kew commemorative 50p coin as it’s now worth a few bob....

[#6]

@Baldrick1 

Indeed, ten bob a week must have been some time ago. Even my first wage packet was eight times more than that back in 1963. Different times different values of course but even back then they were putting designs on stamps such as those for National Productivity Year.

[#7]

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@shutter wrote:

Two news items caught my attention to day... both regarding the 50pence piece ( ten shillings in old money)

From an every day usage point... it will still be a " Wilsons Washer" to me...

Anyone know what that means ? ? ? 

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I learned that time learnt on computations involved adding columns of £sd (including halfpennies) was wasted.

Pleased to see the back of it.

[#8]

OK.... "Wilson`s Washer" ..... refers , irreverantly, to Prime Minister Harold Wilson.... and the 50p came in to circulation around his period of office... and became known as "Wilson`s Washer".... because it ( the 50p ) is  "many sided, and two faced"... 

Ooops...( embarassed smiley )

[#9]

@shutter 

Don't recall that, but it sounds about right. But was he really that bad... indeed he was with his "pound in your pocket" being devalued by quite a bit. And to think the guy was a well regarded economist!

How about Sean the Sheep on a fifty pence coin - it would become and instant collectors item here in Wales.

PS. Was Wilson around when the coin was introduced though. Surely not. 😛

[#10]

Since Prime Minister Harold Wilson was also responsible for the birth of the Open University, I'll forgive the invention of a "seven-sided coin formed as an equilateral-curve heptagon".

[#11]

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@Minivanman wrote:

How about Sean the Sheep on a fifty pence coin - it would become and instant collectors item here in Wales. 😉

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Sheeps head on the front, pair of wellies on the back!  😀

[#12]

Can they really devalue the money any more?

The only surprise to me is that they haven't started punching holes in the new money so you can thread it on a piece of string!

And the plastic notes. . .

[#13]

A Shaun the sheep 50 pence coin will need a totally different manufacturing process!

Instead of the current stamping process it will need to be lamb-inated.

[#14]

😂

[#15]

With or without mint sauce? 😁