Britisk Money
One of the most dramatic changes to the system of British money came in 1971. In the system previously in place, the pound consisted of 20 shillings, each containing 12 pence, making 240 pence to the pound. Since 1971, British money has been calculated on the decimal system, with 100 pence to the pound. Britons' experience of paper money did not change very drastically: as before, 5- and 10-pound notes constitute the majority of bills passing through their hands (in addition, 20- and 50pound notes have been added). But the shift necessitated a whole new way of thinking about and exchanging coins and marked the demise of the shilling, one of the fundamental units of British monetary history. Many other coins, still frequently encountered in literature, had already passed. These include the groat, worth 4 pence (the word 'groat' is often used to signify a trifling sum); the angel (which depicted the archangel Michael triumphing over a dragon), valued at 10 shillings; the mark, worth in its day two-thirds of a pound or 13 shillings 4 pence; and the sovereign, a gold coin initially worth 22 shillings 6 pence, later valued at 1 pound, last circulated in 1932. One prominent older coin, the guinea, was worth a pound and a shilling; though it has not been minted since 1813, a very few quality items or prestige awards (like the purse in a horse race) may still be quoted in guineas. (The table below includes some other well-known, obsolete coins.) Colloquially, a pound was (and is) called a quid; a shilling a bob; sixpence, a tanner; a copper could refer to a penny, a half-penny, or a farthing ('A penny).
Old Currency New Currency
1 pound note 1 pound coin (or note in Scotland) 10 shilling (half-pound note) 50 pence 5 shilling (crown) 2V4 shilling (half crown) 20 pence 2 shilling (florin) 10 pence 1 shilling 5 pence 6 pence 2Vi pence 1 penny 2 pence
1 penny Vi penny 'A penny (farthing)
In recent years, the British government and people have been contemplating and debating a change even greater than the shift to the decimal system. Britain, a mem ber of the European Union, may adopt the EU's common currency, the Euro, and eventually see the pound itself become obsolete. More than many other EU- member countries, Britain has resisted this change: many people strongly identify their country with its rich commercial history and tend to view their currency patriotically as a national symbol.
Even more challenging than sorting out the values of obsolete coins is calculating for any given period the purchasing power of money, which fluctuates over time by
A99
.
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its very nature. At the beginning of the twentieth century, 1 pound was worth about 5 American dollars, though those bought three to four times what they now do. Now, the pound buys anywhere from $1.50 to $1.90. As difficult as it is to generalize, it is clear that money used to be worth much more than it is currently. In Anglo-Saxon times, the most valuable circulating coin was the silver penny: four would buy a sheep. Beyond long-term inflationary trends, prices varied from times of plenty to those marked by poor harvests; from peacetime to wartime; from the country to the metropolis (life in London has always been very expensive); and wages varied according to the availability of labor (wages rose sharply, for instance, during the devastating Black Death in the fourteenth century). The chart below provides a glimpse of some actual prices of given periods and their changes across time, though all the variables mentioned above prevent them from being definitive. Even from one year to the next, an added tax on gin or tea could drastically raise prices, and a lottery ticket could cost much more the night before the drawing than just a month earlier. Still, the prices quoted below do indicate important trends, such as the disparity of incomes in British society and the costs of basic commodities. In the chart below, the symbol . is used for pound, s. for shilling, d. for a penny (from Latin denarius)-, a sum would normally be written .2.19.3, i.e., 2 pounds, 19 shillings, 3 pence. (This is Leopold Bloom's budget for the day depicted in Joyce's novel Ulysses [1922]; in the new currency, it would be about .2.96.)
.
circa
food and drink
entertainment
reading
1390
gallon (8 pints)
of ale, 1,5d.
gallon (8 pints) of wine, 3 to 4d.
pound of cinna
mon, 1 to 3s.
no cost to watch a cycle play
contributory admission to professional troupe theater
maintenance for royal hounds at Windsor, .75d. a day
cheap romance, Is.
1590
tankard of beer,
,5d.
pound of beef, 2s. 5d.
pound of cinna
mon, 10s. 6d.
admission to public theater, 1 to 3d.
