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Pounds, shillings, and pence: a history of English coinage

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I was 10 when decimalisation was forced upon us on 15th February 1971 I still revert back, to this day
Comment from : @My2up2downCastle

I think you buy racehorses in guineas or did i just dream that up??
Comment from : @My2up2downCastle

Oldies a Mars Bar now costs 15/- ambulance!! over here!!
Comment from : @My2up2downCastle

I heard that auctioneers used guineas because currency incorporated their feebrbrBuyer pays 20 guineasbrSeller receives 20 poundsbrAuctioneer receives 20 shillings
Comment from : @robberry80

2:40 so they took back control over their money, what a coin-cidence… 😂
Comment from : @KurtCHose-uw2ux

Another reason for having 240 pennies to one pound (currency) is because 240 pennies go to make up one pound (weight) Don't think you mentioned that, don't think you knew
Comment from : @DerekWalsh-l4i

Great love this just wish I could understand it😂
Comment from : @Mattherat15

Lindy is one of the few Youtubers still so unabashedly English that he feels the need to apologize to the Scottish and Welsh for not including them in "Britain"
Comment from : @IncredibleMD

I recall my dad referring to five shillings as a dollar and a half crown (2/6) as half a dollar
Comment from : @rayperkins8560

FUN TIME !!! 🤣😂 NICE ONE INDEEED!😇 FROM UK (2025)
Comment from : @pmajudge

In re: NewtonbrNeal Stephenson, in his massive trilogy The Baroque Cycle adds in a wrinkle relevant to your comments on the local nature of the values of gold and so forth In the novels, Newton eventually realizes that the Dutch banking industry had made a discovery that even legitimate coins varied slightly in weight So?brSimple: purchase legitimately lots of coins, separate the lighter ones, use them to go out and buy more coinsrepeat Clever!brCan't find a historical reference,,,might be a fable! But fun
Comment from : @hughbarton5743

Would you argue for a reversal of decimalisation?
Comment from : @LawrenceLinskey

Appreciate the detailed breakdown! I need some advice: I have a okx wallet with money, and I have the seed phrase: (proof inner hobby bounce blouse able donate virtual luggage cart morning ticket) How can transfer them to Binance?
Comment from : @ThleHusam-r3j

2/6- Bed and Breakfast- a bad throw in darts
Comment from : @martinphilip8998

Is this why bond arbitrage is called the carry trade?
Comment from : @JohnTovar-ks8dp

Four years ago, wow I remember watching this when it came out My future wife's first Christmas in England, albeit due to coronavirus Imo these are the best type of Lindybeige video, just speaking to camera for 30-90 minutes, preferably in one shot First Lindybeige video I ever watched was the one on Sidney Smith I think my favourite is Battle of Cannae
Comment from : @hugh081

I'm only halfway through (mark section) but a quote from the film "Zulu" came to mind - "Confusing ain't it" Great video though!! 🙃
Comment from : @pierremainstone-mitchell8290

If it were a trimetallic globally accepted standard; copper, silver, and gold sorted by size or weight, it would make a lot more sense and actually be a lot easier to use Except that it isn't, never has been, and gets even more confusing when you add nickel, brass, zinc, aluminum, and other metals, debased coinage or paper notes Counterfeiting has always been punishable by death, until the king or the people's chosen government eventually do it
Comment from : @SovereignCajun78

Your sponsor Acorn TV, sounds interesting But, we need to know, how much is a subscription in guineas? 😂
Comment from : @ega9499

“Under Henry the 8th coinage was a bit rubbish,” I suggest he had other things on his mind
Comment from : @ega9499

Very interesting and entertaining I always thought decimal is better, but, I like your point about imperial being easily divisible by 3 Maybe, Charlamagne had 3 mistresses?
Comment from : @ega9499

I don't know if they were ever released for general use, but there was also a silver thrupenny bit, which was slightly smaller thatn the normal thrupence and had a smooth edge I only found this out as I saw it in a pre-decimal coin presentation pack on Amazon Also, schools used to make us learn our multiplication tables up to 12, instead of 10 as they do nowadays This would have been so people could deal with the old pence and shillings
Comment from : @apm763

In todays episode of British people being ridiculous;
Comment from : @chris_hisss

im an engineer ooou is my response also haha
Comment from : @jonathangriffin3486

As an American, very informative and interesting
Comment from : @rustyschackleford7922

Had no idea the Romans made LSD, what druggies
Comment from : @Freedom4UFreedom4every1

I think the farthings name term came about through the groat as in four things or 4 pennies but don't quote me on it! :)
Comment from : @peternicholls6532

"Shipping coins back and forth, and no actual goods are being tranferred - this is madness, and no way to run an economy" - Cue Youtube playing an ad for dodgy Forex day trading website or crypto scheme in 3 2 1
Comment from : @Eserchie

Bring back the Assizes of the Moneyers! But maybe less bodily harm more jail-y harm
Comment from : @Italian_Spiderman

For a video based around purely old English currency, I learned a ton of a more/extra information in a relatively engaging way
Comment from : @NicolasBeldam

we should all use gold and silver as money
Comment from : @arthur-yq4ic

I'm guessing lots of people have corrected your mistake about bob and tanner?
Comment from : @peterbond2505

great video, thank you!
Comment from : @removechan10298

i wish you'd talked more about the quarter and " two bits "
Comment from : @removechan10298

guinnea was a 5 higher value too
Comment from : @removechan10298

bsiren blasts/b - woah there, TRUNCATED ETYMOLOGY ALERT!! Ag isn't from latin, it's from Greek, άργυροςbralways be careful not to latin bias your etymologies, if you just use google, they do it A LOT!!!
Comment from : @removechan10298

1/10th n a 1/4, 1/100, not 1/240, 1/12 to 1/20 to who knows what, n you guys have changed too, even brits are confused with their currency
Comment from : @ConnerWild

$ilver Dollar up to the 60s is my reason, but some say $hillings, Peso$ or U$A
Comment from : @ConnerWild

You sound a lot like John Cleese You just need to add some naughty bits 😂
Comment from : @warrenwatkins9650

The presentation style is like what happens when a kid procrastinated his entire English oral assignment
Comment from : @Daoibhéar

I remember being confused by a Robin Hood themed war game that used the mark as its currency, and so it's good to learn that here
Comment from : @quadibloc2

Id guess the S for dollars might have something to do with Spanish dollares The chief unit of trade in the americas for the first 2 centuries of european contact It also vaguely fits the model that led to the pound
Comment from : @pudgeboyardee32

Pre decimal coins are fun to collect My favorite is the Florin 1/3 ounce of actual silver and excellent size to carry as the original fidget spinner
Comment from : @repodonkey

14:40 Nassty hobbitses, what hass it got in its pocketses?
Comment from : @Timberhawk

Please do keep the pints!!
Comment from : @AMGyoutube

we have English names for numbers up to Twelve Just Sayingbrbring on the base 12 revolution!!!
Comment from : @JoshuaRobertPreston

Watching this Video, you'd definitely make an amazing Professor at a Universityeven Oxford University!
Comment from : @GabrielMcKnight

Oh, just saw it again, and correct is plural Solidi for singular Solidus (Denarius-Denarii, Solidus-Solidi, Libra-Librae)
Comment from : @lderil

I love this guy!
Comment from : @patokev3691

Really entertaining Extra points for sounding a little bit like John Cleese❤
Comment from : @TheCoinHunt3r

As I heard it the guinea was used in various trades as a way of simply adding 5 commission or service charge Calculate in pounds, invoice in guineas to add the 5
Comment from : @pperrinuk

Aaaaaaand I’m buying more Bitcoin Holla!
Comment from : @lukejolley8354

In The Netherlands we had fl 1½ coins and fl 2½ coins The fl 1½ coins were discontinued but the fl 2½ coins were used up until the Euro
Comment from : @r00key

16:05 Whilst bankers weren't invented tet, their predecessors were also corrupt
Comment from : @gyrrakavian

This is a wonderful video! His enthusiasm is great!!
Comment from : @GeorgeFulton-m9n

I lived in England in the 70, after decimalization I had never understood what was meant, that Mean Mr Mustard "keeps a ten-bob note up his nose," until I saw a ten-bob note!
Comment from : @ObservantHistorian

Fun fact: “pound” derives from Latin “pondo” meaning “of weight”, used in the phrase “libra pondo” (pound of weight), which explains why we call the currency “pound” but use an abbreviation for “libra”
Comment from : @cmyk8964

One important lesson we learned from the Celts is " Don't tell Cesar you capital is called 'The mountain of Silver'"
Comment from : @robertwaters6208

Is this guy channeling John Cleese?
Comment from : @PGW1970

Well Done Sir! an amazing history lesson and explanation of a most wonderfully quirky and colorful peoples nation! 8) Thank you for the wonderful post!
Comment from : @R3LI2UI

The $ sign was originally a (U) with an (S) on top of it United States Or so it has been said
Comment from : @RichKeagy

I have never handled British currency, but this subject matter fascinates me tremendously During my lifetime (I'm 70 now), I've never had to deal with such a complicated system It's just as confusing as English spelling
Comment from : @masudashizue777

Thanks!
Comment from : @brunoa8485

44:42 nope, I live in France and I order "une pinte"
Comment from : @jakubbladowski3232

they are just coins, don‘t worry
Comment from : @sendit8209

Just one slight correction to an otherwise very informative lecture It was the sixpenny piece that was called the Tanner and the one shilling that was called the BobbrAs a boy scout you would earn one shilling for each task completed on Bob a Job day, and as an ex boy scout named Bob, I remember this well
Comment from : @bobmansfield6859

I think that there should be 120 pence In a pound because it has almost all the factors of 240 But, if there was 240 pence in a pound due to inflations it would practically render the pence useless
Comment from : @esckings-ts9vd

i love that he 'put the coin down' after not talking about the oak leaves
Comment from : @farmgurl3140

I'm afraid I have to add a SIXTH erratum to Lindy's pinned list of FIVE errata (though I'm late to the game, by three years): At 05:16, "Solidii" is a tad incorrect — it's actually just "Solidi" (no double "I" at the end), as it is the plural of "Solidus" (not "Solidius") "Denarii" is correct, because the singular is "Denarius," which does have an "I" before its terminal "us" in its singular form By the by, the "/" sign used to abbreviate shilling, though now commonly called a "slash" or "forward slash," is actually called a "solidus" in typographical circles
Comment from : @WeeCarBoot

This video is absolutely amazing Thank you!
Comment from : @SimmonsThomas

Could you also explain the British length, liquid and weight measures for mainland Europeans?
Comment from : @serpentaking8697

Blimey Lindy, you think they probably deserved emasculation for currency crimes I think you’re more of a humanitarian than that This is an awesome video which I have watched quite a few times, thanks for all your hard work
Comment from : @apodis4900

being able to divide by 3 is great when you're in an economy that deals in small numbers of things, decimals are much more useful when you have millions of things
Comment from : @satoau1

A "Tanner" was slang for a sixpence not a thruppence , that would be a 'Joey' , and a "Bob" is 12 pence or a Florin With the surname Tanner , this is something my brother and I have had to live with for over 50 years Great show tho , love your work
Comment from : @titanCrafter

So the British way things using rocks stones and they tell us Americans that are system is outdated cuz we don't use the metric system well we damn sure don't use rocks
Comment from : @thehillbillygamer2183

Its interesting about the question of a quarter as an American, because I explain it to others as literally 1 quarter of as dollar, as in 1/4 Saying it as 25 cents brings it into the lowest denomination Some say half dollar instead of 50 cents So if something cost $250 dollars you could say two and half hundred, as in 2 1/2, or a quarter of a grand BUT as soon as something cost say 253 dollars, you just say 253, not two and a half hundred and 1/3 haha So there is something to be said about the number 3, but while it makes sense on paper I dont think its that hard of a work around in actual use Although on gas stations you will still see things sold as 1/3 of a penny so it does exist, just not in a coinage form Maybe its a carry over from the mark? Anywhoo, good video and I learned a lot
Comment from : @DanielRyanScott

I came here hoping to understand what a shilling When America was just 13 colonies They used the same money as the English 5 shilling was for 1 pound of tea Which is a lot of money Pence is a penny 1 pound is like 1 dollar
Comment from : @LittleImpaler

Thank you for making so much pence (common sense) of the pound for me
Comment from : @jimgillert20

Pockets took a millennia to invent, and supposedly the girls will have to wait another millennia to get theirs!
Comment from : @thegreenmamba100

This is very interesting about history of coins I wish you would of slowed down abit so we could take it all in as you are speking so fast
Comment from : @sharonwaller6716

I still remember that a third of a pound is six and eight, and two-thirds is thirteen and four!
Comment from : @rogerkearns8094

I had heard that holding livestock autions (eg rams) in Guineas/Sovereigns was due to the extra shilling serving as the auction fee
Comment from : @cthulhulives2

Awesome program! I was thrilled that I had a 1797 George 3 "cartwheel " in my collection and it was England's first, industrial revolution, steam powered produced coin
Comment from : @erics4066