The European Central Bank does a good job of explaining the Euro and updating the list of countries in the Euro Zone. There are even pictures of Euro coins and bank notes.
British money
In the old days--before 1971--money in the British Isles was difficult to understand, even confusing. With bob, tanner, guinea and florin among the more exotic terms, the language of the money lent a certain romance to fiscal matters, but the organization of the currency could certainly be intimidating to those unaccustomed to it. Today, however, matters are considerably easier for the first time visitor--and the long-time visitor, for that matter.
The basic unit of currency is the pound (£). The pound is divided into 100 pence. The Bank of England issues £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, and 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p and £1 coins.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, too, prints notes in the same denominations as the Bank of England, plus £1 and £100 notes. Although these notes are generally accepted throughout the UK, smaller shops south of the border have been known not to accept them so don't hang on to more than necessary when you leave Scotland.
What was it like before 1971? The primary denominations were:
- Penny (d.) Why "d" rather than "p"? This stems from Roman times. The "d" stood for "denarius", a small coin common throughout the Roman empire. Once more than 90% silver, by the latter days of the Empire it had fallen to less than 1% silver--worth not much more than a penny.
- Shilling (s.)
- Pound (£)
There were 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound. Got that? Good--it gets worse.
Nine different coins were minted:
- Farthing - ¼ d. (withdrawn in 1960)
- Half penny - ½d. (usually pronounced HAY-p'nee)
- Penny - 1d.
- Threepence - 3d. (usually pronounced "throopence" or "thruppence"
- Sixpence - 6d.
- Shilling - 1s.
- Florin - 2 shillings
- Half crown - 2 shillings and 6 pence
- Crown - 5 shillings (prior to 1965)
Prior to 1937, there was the sovereign and half sovereign which were one £ and half £ coins struck in gold. The sovereign and half sovereign are still issued now and then for commemorative purposes.
Additional monetary nomenclature included the guinea, the quid, the bob, the tanner, and tuppence. If something cost a 'guinea', you would pay 1 pound & 1 shilling for it; a 'quid' equaled a pound; a tanner was sixpence; a trinket quoted at a 'bob' would cost you a shilling; and 'tuppence' was 2 pence.
Britain was a very class orientated society (many will say it still is), and even the money was affected by this. Professional people: lawyers, doctors, etc. used to charge their fees in guineas whereas trades people: plumbers, handy men, etc. used pounds, shillings and pence. The world of horse racing (the sport of kings) also used guineas. Horse auctions were denominated in guineas, and there are still horse races known by their purse as the 1000 Guineas and 2000 Guineas.
The way prices were marked was also a tough go until you learned the ropes. An item costing only pennies was marked simply enough--a 6 penny nail was marked 6d. Sounds familiar to those of you who have ever bought nails at the local hardware store, doesn't it?
A slash was introduced to keep the denominations separate when the price rose above a shilling--an item costing 2 shillings and 4 pence would be marked 2/4. This was spoken, "two and four". If the price didn't include pence, it would be marked 2/-.
When a price rose above a pound, a second slash was added to the price tag. A nice sweater might cost £4/6/8.
Thanks to Carol Thomson for her kind input and to Frank Rosbottom of Bolton, Lancashire for his information about the class consciousness of the guinea.