Hi guys -- I recently pulled out my stash of British pre-decimal pennies and threepence and it got me thinking. As an American, its easy to figure out and understand the value of a modern British pound and a modern pence. I was wondering what the spending strength of the pennies and threepences were when they were new. It has always facinated me that the British had SO many lower-denomination coins [four farthings = one penny, 12 pennies = one shilling, and 20 shillings = one pound if you didn't know] when in 2012 a pound is roughly 1.5 American dollars. I did some math -- taking the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate and determining what a penny would be to an American dollar in 1953, then accounting for inflation of that amount in 1953 dollars to 2012 dollars, it seems that the following is what 1950s British pre-decimal currency would buy in American dollars when inflation is adjusted to 2012: 1 '53 GBP = Approx. $20.00 '12 USD 1 '53 Shilling = Approx. $1.00 '12 USD 1 '53 Penny = Approx. $0.08 '12 USD 1 '53 Farthing = Approx $0.02 '12 USD Anybody have personal experience with pre-decimals from that era? Is my math and assumptions correct? Thanks!
