wrote:

The Channel Islands still have one-pound notes in regular circulation,
incidentally. I refer to both Guernsey and Jersey.

So does the Isle of Man - I got a couple in change when I was there for
the TT this year.

--
Simon

Brighton
ex-Westbury, ex-Aberystwyth

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li...
On Sat, 14 Jun 2008, wrote:

I have a bag in which i've been accumulating interesting coins for 15-20
years (ever since i had coins, basically!). It's mostly the special
designs of UK pounds, two pounds and 50ps, plus various coins from the
channel islands, Man and Gibraltar.

I have noticed lately that there appear to be much less coins 1- and 2-pound
coins, plus 50-pence coins with special reverses in circulation. Is it
becoming a trend for the general public to hoard these coins?

The most interesting things are a St Helena & Ascension pound, which is a
fairly dull design with some birds on it,

I rather liked that design.

"Free Lunch" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:41:19 +0100, wrote in
misc.transport.urban-transit:

Wasn't the $20 gold piece smaller than the Liberty dollar? As I recall
gold is more dense than silver.

It's possible that it had a smllaer diameter, but not by that much. They
were used in general circulation, in any event, as were the silver dollar
coins.

The Eisenhower dollars of the 1970s were also quite big, and I believe
that
they were in general circulation.

They were the same size at the Liberty IIRC.

I think that you are right, based on my own recollections.

Like I said, however, they were quite large and in circulation.

It was when they introduced the Susan B. Anothony dollars that complications
started with dollar coins in the United States, IIRC, because their size
allowed them to be easily confused with a 25-cent coin. Would it not have
been easier to put shape on the coin's circumference, as many nations do?

"sweller" wrote in message
...
wrote:

The Channel Islands still have one-pound notes in regular circulation,
incidentally. I refer to both Guernsey and Jersey.

So does the Isle of Man - I got a couple in change when I was there for
the TT this year.

Really? I was under the impression that they had been completely replaced
with pound coins, because I never saw or received any in change when I
visited.

What about other dependencies or colonies that have their currency pegged to
the pound sterling?

Same thing happened in the United States -- it is next to impossible
to find any coins from before 1964, because they had all previously
contained silver.

For the sake of precision: that's dimes and higher coins, from
before 1965.

Actually, for some reason they continued to make half-dollars
containing silver (only 40% instead of 90% as before) for another
6 years, and I've seen it claimed that this was a factor in the
almost total disappearance of the coin from circulation about then.
--
Mark Brader | "I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did.
Toronto | I said I didn't know."
| --Mark Twain, "Life on the Mississippi"

On Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:41:19 +0100, wrote:


"Charles Ellson" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:11:27 +0100, "Peter Masson"
wrote:

That might be down to interpretation. The last intentionally-regular
issues for general circulation seem to have been after the 1887 Royal
Jubilee. Since then have been mostly commemorative issues but even
before Victoria's time they don't seem to have been established as an
"everyday" issue. I suspect their size possibly clashed with some kind
of practical threshold above which coins were inconvenient to carry or
handle.

Was the size of coins really an issue, though?

Think also in terms of "Is that the smallest you've got?". For the
ordinary person they possibly had the same inconvenience as a 50 or
100 pound note now has for everyday use.

How were people in the United States handling the 20-dollar coins, or even
the Liberty silver dollars?

The Eisenhower dollars of the 1970s were also quite big, and I believe that
they were in general circulation.

"Mark Brader" wrote in message
...
Same thing happened in the United States -- it is next to impossible
to find any coins from before 1964, because they had all previously
contained silver.

For the sake of precision: that's dimes and higher coins, from
before 1965.
Actually, for some reason they continued to make half-dollars
containing silver (only 40% instead of 90% as before) for another
6 years, and I've seen it claimed that this was a factor in the
almost total disappearance of the coin from circulation about then.
--

What is/was the situation with Canadian coins?

On Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:18:36 +0100, wrote:


"Mark Brader" wrote in message
.. .
Same thing happened in the United States -- it is next to impossible
to find any coins from before 1964, because they had all previously
contained silver.

For the sake of precision: that's dimes and higher coins, from
before 1965.
Actually, for some reason they continued to make half-dollars
containing silver (only 40% instead of 90% as before) for another
6 years, and I've seen it claimed that this was a factor in the
almost total disappearance of the coin from circulation about then.
--

What is/was the situation with Canadian coins?

Picking first on the 1c [from www.mint.ca]:-
"Today's one-cent coin, modified in 2000 to reduce cost, is made of
copper-plated steel (94% steel, 1.5% nickel, 4.5% copper). From 1997
until 2000, the coin was made of copper-plated zinc. Prior to 1997 the
one-cent coin was 98% copper, 1.75% zinc and 0.25% other metals."

25c:-
1908-1919 92.5% silver
1920-1967 80% silver
1967-1968 50% silver
1968-1999 99.9% nickel
2000-date 94% steel (cupro-nickel plated)

A circulating 2 dollar coin was introduced in 1996 to replace
banknotes as was also the 1 dollar in 1987.

The 50 cent seems to be the Canadian version of the Crown:-
"The current design was produced by former Royal Canadian Mint
engraver Thomas Shingles and was first used in 1959. In recent
decades, the fifty-cent circulation coin has not been widely used in
day-to-day transactions, yet it remains popular with coin collectors."

Same thing happened in the United States -- it is next to impossible
to find any coins from before 1964, because they had all previously
contained silver.

For the sake of precision: that's dimes and higher coins, from
before 1965.

What is/was the situation with Canadian coins?

Pretty much the same. For coins of 10 cents and up there was a rapid
transition in 1967-68 from 80% silver to 50% silver to no silver.

ObRail: when I returned to London in 1975 for the first time since I
was a baby, you could use a payphone for 2p and ride the tube for 5p.
Over here the corresponding prices were 10 cents and 3 trips for $1 --
about 4p per call and 14p per trip. But in both cases, ours were flat
rates while yours were minimum charges (and 5p would only take you about
3 stops, after which the next fare was 10p).
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Ever wonder why they call the screen
a vacuum tube?" -- Kent Paul Dolan

My text in this article is in the public domain.

wrote:
"Peter Masson" wrote in message
...
During WW1 the Treasury issued ten shilling and one pound currency notes.
They also printed five shilling, half crown, and one shilling notes, but
AFAIK these were never issued for circulation.
http://xray.sai.msu.ru/~mystery/images/money/UK/UK.html


The Channel Islands still have one-pound notes in regular circulation,
incidentally. I refer to both Guernsey and Jersey.

And the Clydesdale Bank's one-pound notes are accepted almost everywhere
in these parts.
--
Bruce Fletcher
Stronsay, Orkney