> Q: What's a Whitworth?
> A: Oh, about a ha'pence.

Maybe as much as tuppence three farthing on occasion.

Normally more like ten or twenty a shilling

Several gross may be worth a Guinea and a hundred may fetch a Crown on 
a good day.

I have several Crown(s) which were minted here only for most special 
occasions such as Coronations. The Half Crown was standard fare until 
we decimalised in 1967.

Our shillings changed to 10 cent pieces at decimalisation but it took 
a few years for the powers that be to remove the word "shilling" from 
the 10 cent pieces. That's progress for you.

The farthings went first.
The hapence / haypennies/happence hung in there along with pennies 
until decimalisation.
Way back when a half loaf of bread was 4 pence but a full load 7 pence 
haypenny. (It's actually halfpenny but pronounced hay...). That's 
volume discounting for you.
Nowadays the same plain would be in the $1.50 - $2.50 range so I've 
seen prices change by a factor of around 25:1 or so.

The 1 cent (1.2 pence) and 2 cent (2.4 pence) pieces arrived in their 
stead to be phased out a decade ort so ago with inflation.
The sixpence transmogrified into a 5 cent piece and hung in their 
until last year when it also was abandoned as of too little value for 
commerce.

The surviving 10c 20c 50c and $1 and $2 coins all shrank and the lower 
two changed colour to a cuprous look (although steel based) to match 
the prior 1 and 2 c pieces and fool our brains into thinking it was 
business as usual. Effectively the PTB and treasury are trying to get 
us to accept a 10:1 devaluation over time with inflation as just what 
happens. Which it is.



        Russell 

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist