Coins with fractional and mixed number denominations

Man, I'm so glad I've only had to deal with decimal currency. It almost makes up for rejecting the metric system.

 

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Apparently, one of the advantages of the LSD system was that it could be easily divided a number of different ways. In the early days of the Industrial Revolution when more workers were paid salaries, wages were often paid collectively due to shortages of smaller coins. So having money in pounds which could be split evenly into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 etc could be handy. If they had a remainder, I think they probably went to the pub and drank enough beer until the rest came out even...

 

Turkey, 2½ Lira, 1964 (Steel)

I have no recollection whatever of buying this coin. It might have been part of a bulk world coin lot I got years ago or might have been a junk bin pick. Still, anything with a denomination 2½ is worth a post.

 

I also like the fact that the guy is smoking a cigarette! Mine is still in original mint packaging.

 

Netherlands 2 1/2 cents 1929

 

Transylvania/ Principality
AV Quarter Dukat 1749
Alia Julia (Karlsburg) Mint
Maria Theresia 1740-80

 

China 1 mace and 4.4 candareens, silver, 1890-1908

 

Well, that seemed baffling, until I looked up the units and saw that a candareen was 1/10 of a mace. So, 144, or 12 dozen, right?

 

I think it's a coincidence. China had its own units of measure which were not directly connected to Western ones. With more international trade bringing silver into China, it became useful to have a weight standard compatible with the Spanish dollar. Here's Wikipedia on it:

"In 1889, the Chinese yuan was introduced at par with the Spanish dollar or Mexican peso or Philippine peso and was subdivided into 10 jiao (角, not given an English name, cf. dime), 100 fen (分, cents), and 1000 wen (文, cash). The yuan was equivalent to 7 mace and 2 candareens (or 0.72 tael) and, for a time, coins were marked as such in English."

So 1/5 of a Yuan = 20 fen = 1.44 mace = 1 mace 4.4 candareens.

Most of China used a copper cash system which was not really compatible with international trade, so silver was secondary in importance until quite late in history.

 

"Likely 7.2 candareens, as is this silver Chinese coin minted 1890-1908. " A candareen (/kændəˈriːn/; Chinese: 分; pinyin: fēn; Cantonese Yale: fàn; Singapore English usage: hoon) is a traditional measurement of weight in East Asia. It is equal to 10 cash and is 1⁄10 of a mace. It is approximately 378 milligrams."

My post from Dec 9, 2020 regarding Chinese coinage units.

 

Germany BRUNSWICK-WOLFENBUTTEL Heinrich Julius 1/16 Taler 1606 (with 16 at top of legend on rev.)

 

oooh, nice one. I haven't seen that one before.

 

Great wild man! He pulled the tree up by its roots! Love that handlebar mustache too.

 

Just saw this...
https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/busting-myths-about-metric-system

Frustrating search, but I do remember seeing the definition of an inch for the USA is 2.54 cm. Look at any bottle or package in your cupboard and you'll find metric units. BTW, for science (chemistry) students, how many significant figures in the above stated 1 inch = 2.54 cm (the 2.54)

 

2 significant digits.

 

Infinite sig figs? Since it's a definition you don't lose any precision by doing conversions from inches to cm or backwards.
Just like you don't need to adjust sig figs converting from 360 degrees to 2 Pi radians and so on.

 

Actually either "infinite" or "doesn't matter" since it is a definition, like @The Eidolon said

 

After a quick search it looks like I haven't posted this one yet:
Netherlands, 2 1/2 Gulden, 1852, William III

 

A recent purchase: Luxembourg, 2½ Centimes, 1901
It has a lovely bronze color in hand when the light hits it, at least to my eye. $1.50.

 

I really like that Luxembourg above, everything about it. I just found 3 of these Netherlands 1906 2 1/2 cent pieces rattling around here. 2 of them look kind of woody, A?