In the 1920s, we had the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar coins.6 different denominations. On the other, Great Britain had... Farthing Half Penny Penny ThreePence SixPence Shilling Florin Half Crown Crown. A grand total of 9 different denominations. So did Great Britain use coins more than notes? I wonder if their tills were 9 drawers wide?
I suppose both countries were about the same during the 1o920's. The money had a real value back then.
The Brits still like coins to complete a transaction when necessary. Unlike us 'provincials' who like to use paper.
I've seen British change holders (wooden) from that era, they have six compartments. My guess is that farthings, half pennies and pennies would have shared one compartment as "copper" would have been deposited by weight, not separated out and counted. The rest is anyone's guess.
And the crown didn't do much circulating the past 170 years or so. I've seen very worn crowns from the 1820s, but never a Churchill crown worn from circulation.
From the 1820s when Bank of England stopped issuing 1 pound notes until 1914 when the Treasury started issuing 10/- and 1 pound notes - no 1 pound notes were issued, in fact they were forbidden for provincial bank issues with the "Banking Act of 1844". The smallest denomination of notes in England would have been 5 pounds, while in Scotland and Ireland the commercial banks still printed 1 pound notes because of their specific exemption as specified in the act. So any denomination under 1 pound was always in coin - there was a proposal for 2/-, 2/6 and 5/- notes during 1914 but the idea got shelved. There are examples that were created as proposed designs though. The main reason for the Banking Act of 1844 was the abuse by banks issuing especially 1 pound notes and not being able to pay them on redemption. The act effectively wiped out most 1 pound notes and some larger issues by shaky banks.
