Un precis d'Angleterre

Numismatic Observations on Oxford and London, 29 March to 12 April
2010

Part One

These are simply my recent commonplace impressions and if you know
more than I do on the subject matter (as well many persons may) you
can correct or append to these comments. You can also ignore them as
you wish without offending me.

Note: Generally, I paid USD 1.65 for GB 1 Pound during this trip.
This is slightly dumb on my part; I really should use ATMs instead of
bringing cash (banknotes) with me and get a better exchange rate. The
pound was the cheapest that I can recall and much cheaper that when I
visited in mid-2007.

Coins in everyday use

As I noted in earlier trips, the English use coins much more than
Americans do. Small pocket-sized coin purses are in very common use
(by both men and women), as the English coins are relatively larger,
thicker and heavier than American coins. Of course, the range of
English coin denominations represent relatively higher sums of money
than America’s range of coin denominations.

The new circulation coins: The “Royal Shield” and “Shield Puzzle”
coins that were introduced in 2008 are starting to work their way into
circulation. I obtained specimens of all denomination from the One
Pound to the One Pence, ‘though I only got one example of the newly
designed Fifty Pence. The newly designed Five Pence and Twenty Pence
were commonly tendered, and I got multiples of each denomination with
the exception of the Fifty Pence.

Coins dated 2009 were starting to appear, but most bright and shiny
coins encountered were dated 2008. I found NO examples of 2010 dated
coins.

I obtained two examples of the regular Two Pounds coin dated 2008. I
obtained one example of the 2007-dated Abolition of the Slave Trade
commemorative Two Pounds. I obtained five example of the 2005-dated
Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary commemorative Fifty Pence. I obtained one
example of the 2006-dated Victoria Cross (Two Soldiers type)
commemorative Fifty Pence.

The currently produced bronze-plated steel One and Two Pence coins
have almost totally replaced the earlier bronze coins.

Elongated coins

There are at least two, two-die squished penny machines at Harrods
Department Store and I essentially had to use the bronze-plated coins
although my “purist” elongating friends might object. The two designs
both feature the name Harrods in the well-known script and show (1)
the Harrods’ building on Brompton Road, along with the date 2010, and
(2) the Harrods’ Teddy Bear.

Unlike America’s copper covered zinc cents which tend to split open
when elongated, the United Kingdom’s bronze-plated steel pence almost
always roll out very well and evenly. It seems that when the softer
metal is in the middle of a coin, it doesn’t elongate very well (the
outer core splits open). It seems that when the harder metal is in
the middle of a coin, the soft outer metal flows well and evenly when
elongated. There is probably some arcane scientific principal that
explains this.

There is a magnet in the cup of many penny rolling machines in
England, as the product is usually magnetic and this keeps them from
falling to the ground.

Notes in everyday use

The principal banknotes are denominated Five Pounds, Ten Pounds and
Twenty Pounds. There is a Fifty Pounds banknote as well, but it can
be highly inconvenient in small transactions. All of these notes are
issued by the Bank of England, and I did not receive or see any
Scottish bank-issued banknotes during this trip.

The notes are different colors – the five pounds is blue green; the
ten pounds brown orange yellow; the twenty pounds is purple and white;
and the fifty pounds is red and white. The effigy on the ten pounds
honors the scientist Charles Darwin and that on the Twenty honors the
economist Adam Smith. The Twenty Pounds has a teeny-tiny vignette of
“Britannia” as well (the dropping of “Britannia” from the design of
the Fifty Pence coin back in 2008 caused a minor tempest in a teapot
amongst the British Press). All notes feature H.M. the Queen’s
portrait as well. The notes have different sizes, each successive
denomination being slightly larger that the previous. This is
obviously an aide for the visually handicapped and probably also of
help to busy cashiers.

Instead of laying notes flat in the cash register drawer, many
retailers’ cash registers store the banknotes upright on the edges.

To be continued