Coins lost as no value.

While I do not like that concept either, "legal tender" merely refers to means of payment that have to accepted when settling a debt. (At least that is how it works in the US, and also here in DE.) So when you plan to buy something, there is no debt yet, and the merchant - whether it is a supermarket or a post office - may refuse to accept your funny money.

As long as there is an at least somewhat convenient way of getting such money redeemed, I would not care much. (In Germany I would take such pieces to a Bundesbank branch office.) But if it boils down to the Mint selling you "money" that is (a) hardly ever accepted for payments, and (b) almost impossible to turn in, I'd think twice about buying them ...

Christian

 

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So would I - which is precisely why the market for the Five pound coin is dead. As the Royal Mint is still making them and trying to flog them, I would have thought this was pretty short-sighted thinking by them!

 

Hasn't the 5 pound coin taken the place of pre-decimal crowns? I mean that in the commemoration and size sense, not the denomination one, which would only be 25 new pence.

The re-sizing of the 5p and 10p, along with the creation of the 20p coin, was evidence of the final weaning from what came before. In the interim, having 5p and 10p coins match the shilling and florin in size was sheer brilliance.

 

Oh yes, I know the history pretty well... 1905-1920, 1936-1970, etc... lots of dead periods...

 

Yes - you are right - the Five Pound coin is the same size and weight as the old Five shilling Crown. The later ones of those - from 1965 to 1981 - are also a difficult sell these days. Just too many of them around and not enough collectors.

The process of decimalisation was handled quite well I suppose. Of course the Florin was introduced by the Victorians as an early attempt at decimalisation. Prior to 1849 we had no 2 shilling coin. At present the banks are still taking the old size 5p, 10p and 50p coins provided you can bring them in GBP 5 bags at a time.

There is an interesting philosophical debate as to whether the old system was actually more user friendly. At least then you could split a pound into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 without breaking a penny. Now we can only do 2, 4 and 5. Not sure the computers could cope so well!

 

Over here, the only one of those that is "eyerolling" common is the 1965 Churchill one. The rest are still enough to inspire a "Ooh, what do we have here?" I do love my 1951's. The original boxes are a treat.

 

I have taught many Chemistry For Nursing type classes and the most interesting case I ever ran into was a lady in her 50's. I put on the board D=m/v and was getting ready to solve for m when she piped up "That's Algebra, isn't it?" When I answered yes, she responded "I never understood that in high school and don't intend to start now, just give me all the permutations and I'll memorize them." I found out later that this was her third try at the class. She finally passed.

 

Yes the 1951s in the boxes are nicer - still a lot of them around here. The 1972, 1977, 1980 and 1981 ones are all very common particularly loose or in soft wallets.

I much prefer the earlier ones - with proper Silver content. My Earliest is Charles II.

 

Two comments, Teaching high school chemistry, I had a administrator (speech instructor) sit in on a class where I was teaching the students how to do scientific notation on a calculator to berate me since these kids "had been using calculators since fifth grade". Also I have a friend who teaches an elementary chemistry class at a local community college who won't allow students to use calculators in class, he calls them "crutches". I fall somewhere between these two.

 

I love to carry gold. Been carrying a couple 1/10 oz American Eagles in my wallet for about the last 10 years. Never know when the need may arise for quick cash. Lite and valuable.

 

Were you Special Forces at some stage? It is standard practice for the SAS and SBS in this country to carry gold coins on operations in case they get cut off. Gold still buys your way out of many crises!

 

Shhh