Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Britain’s New Money

This is pretty cool.  Britain’s new coinage is a puzzle. 

image

...the Shield of the Royal Arms has been given a contemporary treatment and its whole has been cleverly split among all six denominations from the 1p to the 50p, with the £1 coin displaying the heraldic element in its entirety. This is the first time that a single design has been used across a range of United Kingdom coins.

Hat tip Letters in Bottles.

(10) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1703 hrs
Foreign Affairs

  1. Blimey!

    Posted by Brad V on April 02, 2008 at 1813 hrs


  2. There better be a Queen on the flip side of those coins.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 02, 2008 at 2000 hrs


  3. Good thing Doyle wasn’t the PM, he’d have put cows and cheese on that shield…

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 02, 2008 at 2031 hrs


  4. I really like the way the British do the one-pound coin: almost a double thickness to differentiate it from the other coins. I think the dollar coin would have a much better chance of catching on here (but still not much of one) if the US Mint would do something similar.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 02, 2008 at 2117 hrs


  5. I bet the dollar coin would catch on if we did what every other country that introduces one does and just got rid of the dollar bill (or equivalent).  Canada and Australia both managed to survive after pitching their dollar bills.

    The whole problem is that the government here treats the dollar coin like a red-headed stepchild.  The Treasury should just get rid of the dollar bill, introduce one and two-dollar coins, and be done with it already.  Americans will thank them later.

    Posted by Recess Supervisor on April 03, 2008 at 0024 hrs


  6. I bet the dollar coin would catch on if we did what every other country that introduces one does and just got rid of the dollar bill (or equivalent).  Canada and Australia both managed to survive after pitching their dollar bills.

    Can you imagine what that would do to the exotic-dancer industry? :D

    Posted by Fuzz on April 03, 2008 at 0621 hrs


  7. I don’t know - perhaps the, ahem, “gentleman’s establishments” could work together and come up with their own “currency”, redeemable by the “entertainer” for real dough.

    For instance, the $1 certificate could have Bill Clinton’s picture on it.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 03, 2008 at 0729 hrs


  8. I suppose you could eliminate the dollar bill, but then where’s the freedom of choice? The Brits kept the one-pound note, or at least they still had it when I was there about 15 years ago.

    It seems other countries are willing to do all kinds of innovative things that we aren’t. I was talking to someone in Dublin about the fact that all their bills are different sizes, and was wondering about the reason why. He looked at me like I was out of my mind and said, “So blind people can tell the difference.”

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 03, 2008 at 0842 hrs


  9. Sort of. The Bank of Scotland still prints one-pound notes, I believe, but the rest of the kingdom doesn’t. The Scottish notes will spend most other places okay but are met with a bit of scorn here and there.

    Practically speaking - it’s pretty rare to be handed a 1-pound note as change.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 03, 2008 at 1424 hrs


  10. two dollar coins are the greatest thing I have ever used.  At least from a monetary stand point.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on April 03, 2008 at 1439 hrs


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