It's not a crown, nor is it a florin or a shilling...
The date on the back is 1920 which means it is 50% silver!! If it had been a year older it would have consisted of 95% silver!! Bloody hell, they really made coins back in those days.
In the useless clue in the previous post I said it was worth the same as five tanners; a tanner is (was) a sixpenny bit... so we are talking about a coin which is worth 30d (that is 30 "old" pence - the d stands for pence - don't ask). Divide that by 12, as there were 12d in a shilling, and you get 2/6 - two and six - or as my dad used to say half a dollar (<- clue).
If I may be permitted a quick aside/rant... this is my problem with metric, decimalised centigradual measuring systems - they are so BORING! It's all 10s and 100s and 1000s!
Pre decimalisation in England we had 240 pence in a pound.
240! Now there's a number you can get your teeth into!
12 pence was a shilling - which is why we had sixpenny bits - half a shilling. There was a threepenny bit too (quarter of a shilling?? Ok?)
20 shillings was a pound - BRILLIANT!
And then there was a Guinea which was one pound and one shiling: 21/-. Furniture shops and car showrooms always had prices in Guineas for the same reason that everything now is 9.99 or 199.99 - you thought the article cost 399 pounds...but it turned out to be 399 Guineas which is 399 pounds PLUS 399 shillings.
Right, anyway, numismatists or oldmismatists... what is it?
2 comments:
I see you did your homework in the silver content, i stand corrected.
Half a crown. always for birthdays from Great Uncles.
Don't forget the little farthing with the wren on. No, I'm not old enough to remeber it in circulation!
My dad used to use pecks and bushels.
Didn't understand half of that post but it looks like a halfcrown.
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