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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;afantiques, post: 1986709, member: 71234&quot;]In Britain gold coins stopped circulating in late 1914 when they were replaced by the first 1 pound and 10 shilling notes. Before that a gentleman would probably carry a sovereign or two and a couple of halves, or there would not be so many sovereign holders in silver and base metal still around. Obviously people earning less than ten shillings a week would have little need of them. The 5/- piece or crown did see considerable circulation, well worn (dollar size) coins are quite common, and would still be in circulation up to the early 1920s.</p><p><br /></p><p>With no smaller banknotes in circulation from the Bank of England than the £5 note, a sovereign or half sov. was in fact, change. </p><p>By the 1920s you&#039;d not see a gold coin in circulation because you could get 30/- for one from a jeweller. </p><p><br /></p><p>The sovereign was the equivalent of $5, the double sovereign and five pound coins were not circulated to any extent and were mostly minted in token numbers.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the 1660s and 70s, in his Diary, Samuel Pepys often refers to his small expenditures, gold &#039;a piece&#039; is little used except for the receipt and payment of fees and what were more or less bribes.&nbsp; By the time of the Great Fire, he was holding about £900 in gold and silver coin, and was paying a silver premium to put as much of his money as possible into gold. Some was in the hands of goldsmiths, the bankers of the day, a fair amount was in a chest in the cellar.</p><p><br /></p><p>His daily expenses would amount to a few shillings and he was by the standards of the time a fairly wealthy man earning several hundred pounds a year when a servant maid cost about £4 a year plus board and lodging.</p><p>Items that might be paid in gold and were sometimes mentioned as such were books at up to&nbsp; 2 or 3 guineas each, pictures and prints.</p><p><br /></p><p>A day might include a morning draught of beer or wine, 6d, being rowed to Westminster Hall for meetings, 6d, lunch, a shilling or two (pretty lavish and often shared with cronies) an evening meal, similar, and a visit to a play could cost from 6d or 9d, to half a crown, but with the best seats you would be sitting near the King, in the cheaper pit there were chances to mingle with a more varied society.</p><p>&nbsp; A cab or a link-boy home would be another few pennies.</p><p><br /></p><p>A pretty lavish day could cost about 5 shillings, little need to carry any gold.</p><p><br /></p><p>Pepys&#039;s diary has a fair amount of interest for a coin collector, including visits to the Royal Mint to see the new milled coinage, the recall of the Commonwealth coinage and estimates of the amount of money in circulation, and innumerable accounts of expenses great and small to give a sense of the money of the time and its buying power..[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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