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Phil C.
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 6:52 pm
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 09:44:11 +0000, Matthew Huntbach
<mmh@dcs.qmul.ac.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | In those days one-hundredth of a pound was a substantial amount of money
(even in 1971 it was so much that we had the decimal halfpenny). The
original scheme was that the florin would be the main unit of currency
divided into a hundred itself. One hundredth of a florin was very nearly
a quarter of a farthing. Quarter farthing coins were minted, although it
was one of those denomination only intended for the colonies.
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It's amazing how many different denominations have been minted at one
time or another. e.g -
http://www.24carat.co.uk/index.html
(Information/FAQ/British coin denominations). I suppose they had their
reasons. No mention of the dandiprat in that list, though - an
alternative name for the threehalfpence. The naming of coins seems to
have become a lost art.
It's interesting how well the word "groat" has survived the coin's
demise. Perhaps because it's a boon to crossword compilers and
Scrabble players.
--
Phil C. |
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John Briggs
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 11:58 pm
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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Matthew Huntbach wrote:
| Quote: | On Thu, 4 Nov 2004, Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:
michael.stevens@which.net "Mike Stevens" wrote:
IIRC, the first brass duodecagonal thrupney'bit was minted in 1937.
It continued in service until 1971.
Its predecessor was the "silver joey"; when I wurra lad, these had
been preserved by my grandmother to put in the Christmas puddings.
The word "joey" properly refers to a 4d coin which circulated in the
19th century, and was named after a politician who campaigned for it
(Joseph Hume). It was only after the 4d coin disappeard from
circulation that the term came to be applied to the silver 3d.
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He campaigned for it after he mistakenly (in the dark) tipped a cabbie with
a half-sovereign instead of a silver 3d!
--
John Briggs |
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Peter Duncanson
Guest
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mUs1Ka
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 5:08 am
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:
| Quote: | On Wednesday, in article
Were any coins minted that actually had the words "One Florin" on
them? I'm sure all the ones I've seen (some of which were Victorian)
had the wording "Two Shillings". So I'd always understood "florin"
to be a nickname.
Yes, I remember them from childhood. |
--
Ray |
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Matthew Huntbach
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 4:51 pm
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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On Thu, 4 Nov 2004, the Omrud wrote:
| Quote: | Matthew Huntbach typed thus:
There was also opposition to the florin because the first version of
the coin omitted the words "Dei Gratia" and hence came to be called the
"Godless florin". It's sometimes said that "florin" was the "nickname"
for the two bob bit, but that is false. It was the formal name for the
coin which still appeared on it as late as the 1920s. I don't think in
practice anyone actually called it that.
Yep, we did, up to the 70s.
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I don't recall the word "florin" being used for the coin in the years
before decimalization (which I am just about old enough to remember).
My recollection was that it was called a "two bob bit".
Matthew Huntbach |
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Matthew Huntbach
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 4:54 pm
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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On Thu, 4 Nov 2004, Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:
| Quote: | Were any coins minted that actually had the words "One Florin" on them?
I'm sure all the ones I've seen (some of which were Victorian) had the
wording "Two Shillings". So I'd always understood "florin" to be a
nickname.
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Yes. My recollection is that the word "florin" appeared on them up to
the mid-1920s. In fact I seem to recall that the word "florin" was used
amongst us to mean "one of those old two bit bobs that occasionally
turns up in your change" rather than a two bib bit in general.
Matthew Huntbach |
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Laura F Spira
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 8:46 pm
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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Matthew Huntbach wrote:
| Quote: |
On Thu, 4 Nov 2004, the Omrud wrote:
Matthew Huntbach typed thus:
There was also opposition to the florin because the first version of
the coin omitted the words "Dei Gratia" and hence came to be called the
"Godless florin". It's sometimes said that "florin" was the "nickname"
for the two bob bit, but that is false. It was the formal name for the
coin which still appeared on it as late as the 1920s. I don't think in
practice anyone actually called it that.
Yep, we did, up to the 70s.
I don't recall the word "florin" being used for the coin in the years
before decimalization (which I am just about old enough to remember).
My recollection was that it was called a "two bob bit".
|
Just "two bob". The only coin I have ever heard regularly referred to as
a "bit" in my lifetime was the thruppenny one.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email) |
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Phil C.
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 9:25 pm
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 13:46:32 +0000, Laura F Spira
<laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | Matthew Huntbach wrote:
I don't recall the word "florin" being used for the coin in the years
before decimalization (which I am just about old enough to remember).
My recollection was that it was called a "two bob bit".
Just "two bob". The only coin I have ever heard regularly referred to as
a "bit" in my lifetime was the thruppenny one.
|
We called it a two-bob bit. Some say that the expression "number two"
is from Cockney rhyming slang.
I occasionally heard a half-crown referred to as "two and a kick".
According to Partridge, "kick" for a sixpence dates back to ca 1700.
--
Phil C. |
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the Omrud
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 9:34 pm
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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Laura F Spira typed thus:
| Quote: | Matthew Huntbach wrote:
On Thu, 4 Nov 2004, the Omrud wrote:
Matthew Huntbach typed thus:
There was also opposition to the florin because the first version of
the coin omitted the words "Dei Gratia" and hence came to be called the
"Godless florin". It's sometimes said that "florin" was the "nickname"
for the two bob bit, but that is false. It was the formal name for the
coin which still appeared on it as late as the 1920s. I don't think in
practice anyone actually called it that.
Yep, we did, up to the 70s.
I don't recall the word "florin" being used for the coin in the years
before decimalization (which I am just about old enough to remember).
My recollection was that it was called a "two bob bit".
Just "two bob". The only coin I have ever heard regularly referred to as
a "bit" in my lifetime was the thruppenny one.
|
I'm fairly certain we referred to the 50p coin as a Ten Bob Bit when
it was first introduced.
--
David
=====
replace the first component of address
with the definite article. |
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Matthew Huntbach
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 12:11 am
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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On Fri, 5 Nov 2004, Phil C. wrote:
| Quote: | On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 13:46:32 +0000, Laura F Spira
laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
Matthew Huntbach wrote:
I don't recall the word "florin" being used for the coin in the years
before decimalization (which I am just about old enough to remember).
My recollection was that it was called a "two bob bit".
Just "two bob". The only coin I have ever heard regularly referred to as
a "bit" in my lifetime was the thruppenny one.
We called it a two-bob bit. Some say that the expression "number two"
is from Cockney rhyming slang.
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"Two bob" for the amount of money, sure, but would that be the term
used for the actual coin? Could you have said "a two bob" to mean
a coin of that value? Admittedly, it was "a sixpence" and never
"a sixpenny bit".
Matthew Huntbach |
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John Hall
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 1:40 am
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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In article <418B8438.9050007@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>,
Laura F Spira <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> writes:
| Quote: | The only coin I have ever heard regularly referred to as a "bit" in my
lifetime was the thruppenny one.
|
That's my recollection too.
--
John Hall
You can divide people into two categories:
those who divide people into two categories and those who don't |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 2:19 am
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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On Friday, in article
<418B8438.9050007@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>
laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk "Laura F Spira" wrote:
| Quote: | Just "two bob". The only coin I have ever heard regularly referred to as
a "bit" in my lifetime was the thruppenny one.
|
"Sixpenny bit"? (Vs "sixpence", which is a monetary sum and not
necessarily indicative of its being in a single coin.)
--
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} bhk@dsl.co.uk
"I don't use Linux. I prefer to use an OS supported by a large multi-
national vendor, with a good office suite, excellent network/internet
software and decent hardware support." |
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John Hall
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:05 pm
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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In article <20041106.0019.58429snz@dsl.co.uk>,
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} <bhk@dsl.co.uk> writes:
| Quote: | On Friday, in article
418B8438.9050007@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk
laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk "Laura F Spira" wrote:
Just "two bob". The only coin I have ever heard regularly referred to as
a "bit" in my lifetime was the thruppenny one.
"Sixpenny bit"? (Vs "sixpence", which is a monetary sum and not
necessarily indicative of its being in a single coin.)
IIRC, it was always a "sixpenny piece" or a "tanner". |
--
John Hall "Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always
pays off now." Anon |
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Laura F Spira
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:30 am
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:
Never! A tanner, maybe, but usually sixpence.
Perhaps these variations are regional as well as temporal? I grew up in
London.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email) |
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bogus address
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:09 am
Post subject: Re: "pences" |
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| Quote: | Just "two bob". The only coin I have ever heard regularly referred
to as a "bit" in my lifetime was the thruppenny one.
|
There is an Irish jig from the 19th century called "The Tenpenny Bit".
I've no idea what the story behind it is.
========> Email to "j-c" at this site; email to "bogus" will bounce <========
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
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