Why Is The UK 2 Pence Coin So Big? A Rambling Look At British Currency

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Title	:	Why Is The UK 2 Pence Coin So Big? A Rambling Look At British Currency
Lasting	:	10.40
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bThe value of Your 2P coin/b - people keep commenting to say they have a 2 pence coin and ask how much it's worthbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrIt's about 2 pence
Comment from : @AtomicShrimp

I believe gold sovereigns (£1) are still legal tender, and gold half sovereigns and gold £2 coins probably are too Not sure about gold guineas (£105 !)brbrMaundy money is now denominated as 1p, 2p, 3p and 4p, and is (?) also legal tender
Comment from : @donerskine7935

The REAL reason that the UK Copper pence coins were SO BIG is very simply , that when a small hole is drilled in their centres , they become corrosion resistant ( PENNY WASHERS 😝! ) ( tried - n - tested ) DAVE™🛑
Comment from : @davidfalconer8913

Ha! I was born in 1984 and I was sure the 5p's and 10p's used to be bigger when I was young! Thanks, I feel vindicated now 😅
Comment from : @xCupressocyparis

Absolutely mental
Comment from : @stevenashmore4522

After Brexit, the money system from before 1960 is to be reintroduced in the UKbrBecause of the good old days
Comment from : @jensschroder8214

In the video about a foreign currency, the fact about the name of a bicycle was the biggest "aha moment"
Comment from : @8421huge

That was excellent and very informativebrbrHow about a history of banknotes and the faces that grace them
Comment from : @Tina-d8f

Very interesting 😀!
Comment from : @christopherdecker3830

The US: the first country to decimalize currency and yet the last holdout from adopting the Metric System
Comment from : @bjdon99

Cracking vid! Loved the use of props
Comment from : @George_Bland

Banks always closed at 1530 in the 1970s and most opened 930 or 1000brSo it's not true they closed early the day before D day, nor did they open later on the day it's self brIn days when banks worked on ledgers with no computers, the banks closed at 1530 to give the cashiers an hour and a half to balance the booksbrThey opened at 930 or 1000 to give the staff time to check the counters each morningbrI do recall some banks opened at 1030 on every Thursday for staff training
Comment from : @oldnottoogrumpy

"Tuppence a bag"
Comment from : @leroyproud294

Decimal day 100p denarius
Comment from : @shko0729

A Penny divided into four parts was called a Farthing; a County divided into three parts was called a Riding
Comment from : @wallsknob

What about the old three ha'penny piece, 1½d?
Comment from : @wallsknob

My granddad has a Swedish coin from 1688, or 1866 We can't figure it out, it's too rusty
Comment from : @TheOne_6

I have no idea why this popped into my suggested videos, but I'm glad it did 👍brbrVery fascinating and I'm so glad I was born shortly after decimalisation pre-decimal looked very confusing - and even after watching this, it's still very confusing!
Comment from : @MrBwian

I'm so confused I have some coins here and idk what any of them are other than what they are named
Comment from : @akikage

There was also a silver 3d coin which was phased out circa 1950 often referred to as a "Thruppeny Joey" or just "Joey"brbrExpensive Items such as TV Sets were often priced in "Guineas" (one pound, one shilling) but this stopped around about 1960
Comment from : @cb379

Now I'm really curious Why if the old coppers were called coppers were they made out of brass and/or bronze were they called coppers? I might be stupid, but I've always thought that's what they were made of Copper
Comment from : @toni4729

Do you still see thrupence, ha penny and 1/4 penny pieces in UK?
Comment from : @jeil5676

WHY NOT!
Comment from : @lordeden2732

9:35 I used to get one of these every birthday from my Scottish great aunt I always had difficulty spending them in England!
Comment from : @Fummy007

The 2p piece is tiny I remember when the currency was decimalised and we scrapped big money in favour of this mickey mouse stuff The 2P was the size of the pre-decimal halfpenny It had 48x the value of the coin that it was the same size asbrAND Nostalgia simply isn't what it used to be
Comment from : @occamraiser

Did you really get to touch those omggggggggg
Comment from : @donwald3436

THIS IS LIKE THE THIRD TIME THEY UNSUBSCRIBED ME FROM U
Comment from : @richardnokes6752

Great video thanks 🙏
Comment from : @klaushergersheimer8315

9:45 new bucket list item added Spend a double Florence on a 20p bag of sweets Note: get on that soon inflation is a bitch
Comment from : @leonwinchester9865

The sizes of the Imperial coins are in relation to the material used The reason the sixpence was small because until 1948 they were 500 sulver and prior to 1919 900 silver
Comment from : @roberw1912

What a great vid to pop up in my feed Found out loads of things about our currency I was unaware of, especially the hologram on the pound coin which was mind-blowing when I checked one!
Comment from : @Jaffo

50p and 2p used to be bigger if I remember correctly
Comment from : @Etheoma

A while ago I saw a Spitting Image clip:br"Norman, why have you crashed my pound!"br"I thought you said you wanted it phased out"br"The pound note not the pound sterling you pillock!"
Comment from : @eldrago19

I know the answer but compelled to watch anyway just to see if he messes up
Comment from : @lubumbashi6666

Answered quite a few questions that have been rattling around in my head since I was given my first "sixpence" to spend on sweets; when I was a child we still used to find three Sovereigns on our coins: Edward VIII; George VI; Elizabeth II
Comment from : @Kian2002

Americans can't say a WORD about this - our Nickel (5 cents) is much larger than our Dime (10 cents) - and our 50 Cent Pieces are massive compared to the $1 coin though to be FAIR you are FAR more likely to run across a 50 Cent Piece than you ever are to find a $1 coin lol
Comment from : @SgtRocko

Up until the last 10 years or so, I'll still hear (generally older) people still refer to the 5p as a shilling, and knowing they were actually used interchangeably for awhile makes that make so much more sense than just 'being worth the same'
Comment from : @TheSeroOnYoutube

Is the One Pound coin actually smaller than the Two Pence coin? I would dispute this In terms of diameter, yes it is But the Pound coin weighs more, is thicker, and, as you say, the Pound is worth more So in three out of four measurements the One Pound coin is larger
Comment from : @MadBiker-vj5qj

That was very interesting 🙂
Comment from : @craftyrouze

Fun Fact! If you know anyone in the UK of a certain age, that indulges in a bit of the old “Mary Jane”, the chances are they’ve bought it from someone that uses 1p & 2p coins to weigh their “Devil’s lettuce”, using mechanical scalesbrbrDespite decimalisation, us Brits like to hold on to old fashioned units (we measure our height in feet & inches, and our weight in pounds and stones), and one of these areas is the illicit trade of “wacky baccy”, which is bought in ounces, or rather fractions of an ounce The most common amount is 1/8 of an ounce (just called an eighth), and converted into grams, that’s 354g, which is very close to the weight of a 1p coin (only a 002g difference, which is negligible) Because the actual weights that came with the scales are so small, they often got lost, but everyone has some pennies lying around, so these became de facto weight used to way people’s ganja, and seeing as two pennies weighs the same as the 2p, any combination can be used for larger quantities 8p in any combination of 1p & 2p would be roughly 1 ounce, which is actually an advantage to the consumer, because they are actually getting a bit more, if only by a very small amount An “ounce” weighed in pennies would be an extra 013g over an actual ouncebrbrNeedless to say, I don’t condone any of these activities, just thought that was an interesting fact
Comment from : @djrizla420

The other reason a 2p coin is that size is the public toilets took an old penny to access, and it would have cost a fortune to have all the locks replaced, so it now cost 2p to "spend a penny" as the coins are the same size
Comment from : @stephendickinson7071

I can remember when the old penny (which weighed over 10 grams) was replaced by the new 1/2p coin (which weighed about 2 grams) and which was worth 20 more as well In those days, the 2p coin, which was worth about 5 old pennies, seemed very small compared to the coins which it replaced!
Comment from : @Mark3ABE

You forgot the Bank of Jersey 1 pound notes, I got some in 2024
Comment from : @Blackadder75

in Finland there are no 1 and 2 cents coins
Comment from : @RuiCBGLima

@6:53 the halfpenny was never intended to circlate for long, but was issued just to allow the sixpence to remain Without it, there'd be no equivalence below a shilling, meaning you'd need a shillings-worth of copper to convert to new money Imagine having no 2 and 5 and needing 10 pennies to swap it for a 10 We'd be drowning in coppers
Comment from : @TazPessle

@5:11 crowns didn't circulate that much before decimalisation either There hadn't been a consistent year run of them since Victoria, a brief run for George V up to 1919, very low mintage for 1927 - 1936 (less than 10k per year! And none from 1920 - 1926) and only sporadic commemoratives from 1936 onwards with only 1960 being minted as general currency (1 in 4 years, on average, have a crown) With the halfcrown (2s 6d) and the 10 bob, it's only a factor of 4 different so it's not too dissimilar to when we had nothing between the £1 and £5 (decimal up to 1997) - it just wasn't in demand, probably as it was so large!
Comment from : @TazPessle

The 1973 ECC 50p coin is now worth about £3 if you got one Even though millions of them were minted it is worth 6 times its face value because when the 50p was re-sized in 1997 a lot of the old 50p were returned to the Royal Mint to be melted down
Comment from : @daviniarobbins9298

You think that 2p is bad, I’m sure you are familiar with the Cartwheel 2 Pence from 1797, got a couple of them down the years, absolute lumps
Comment from : @leesmusic1

Tl;dwbrThe 2p is bronze/copper and is the biggest made of that metalbrThe £1 is gold/silver meaning smaller is still more valuable than copperbrOf course none of them use the real metal anymore
Comment from : @vincenzofranchelli2201

Fascinating!
Comment from : @barrywalden6255

Very nice overview of the changes during 50 years of progressive decimalization
Comment from : @bwhog

Just like our dime being smaller than our nickel (The dime was made mostly out of silver until 1964) However, I myself haven't carried any cash for 20 years since here in the US they're almost unnecessary
Comment from : @masudashizue777

My first trip to England was in 1965 and I liked the odd money
Comment from : @xar1234

1968, I had a paper round 7 mornings and 6 evenings a week I was paid 12/6 I got an extra 2/6 (making my wage 15/-) to deliver to one address on the other side of the county (or so it seemed as a teenager! but in reality, it was only about a mile) In British slang at the time, I would have said that I had earned $3 as 2/6 or a half crown would colloquially known as 'half-a-dollar'
Comment from : @astrecks

amazing information so helpful!
Comment from : @Theworldflagcollector

I'm proud of my £sd hoard Anyone can collect coins over the years, within any price range It's a fascinating hobby and are lovely things to pass on
Comment from : @chegeny

Hi
Comment from : @sandykumari7207

Are England coins made of silver
Comment from : @yvettebayne7418

Love the 2p coin!
Comment from : @dannyram2002

Who was still calling the 50p when the coin was shrunk,c'mon!🙄🎩
Comment from : @neilmcdonald9164

Full Crowns weren't used in daily life in final decades of pre decimal either🎩
Comment from : @neilmcdonald9164

Australia decimalised slightly earlier in 1966, and added the complication of switching from Pounds to Dollars
Comment from : @katelights

tuppence
Comment from : @shawnmurray6701

I love the New Pence 10 I would like to own it O:
Comment from : @michigo

Brilliant Video
Comment from : @JT_Williams

1:08 iLibra/i actually means “pound” while ipondo/i means “by weight”
Comment from : @YamamotoTV2021

All this makes me realize how stable US money has been for all of my yearly-70 years While there have been design changes and silver stopped being used for coins in 1964 or so (which I remember, because the old and new coins sounded different when dropped), nothing significant has happened Attempts to replace paper money with coins has never been allowed due to widespread whining, and pennies (1c) are still made despite being nearly worthless For years I’ve paid for everything with credit cards so actual currency rarely enters my life anymore
Comment from : @hebneh

Because, Tcheatcher, YES
Comment from : @dalecooper9942

I would think it would come down to what the coin is made of
Comment from : @donthespotter6550

The old £1 coins were horrendous for fakes I still remember as a kid trying to get my hands on some snacks from the school vending machine, and about half the kids’ coins were fakes! brbrI don’t think I’ve ever had a new £ coin rejected from a machine, a great change from the “just scratch it on the side of the machine” standard of my childhood
Comment from : @tylerbeaumont

Very interesting We migrated to Australia when I was very young but I still remember the song (to the tune of Click Go the Shears) when we moved from the pound to the dollar on 🎶The fourteenth of February, nineteen sixty-six🎶
Comment from : @hilarysoloff8936

I recently found out I had been keeping an old i1968 LARGE 10p/i coin in my room I must have found it years back and thought it was a regular 10p coin that had rusted a bitbrIt wasn't until I found it that I realised the year and the bsize/b of itbrI'm pretty chuffed about it It's now in my collection of old coins, along with my inew half pennies/i and pre-decimalised coins
Comment from : @lagerku3137

Bonita moeda tenho 2 de 1930 Portugal
Comment from : @vitorroseta3191

One and two pence not even copper now ! I think steel, they rust to sh*t👎
Comment from : @RaveDave871

Size of coins today annoying mish mash ! 5p smaller than 2p, 20p smaller than 10p, £1 smaller than 50p For f**k sake, surely bigger the value of coin, the bigger the size !!!
Comment from : @RaveDave871

Coins lasted very long time before went decimal Common in sixties to get in change queen Victoria pennys !
Comment from : @RaveDave871

Bring base 240 back
Comment from : @rodox2832

You forgot the 1/4 farthing 1/3 farthing and the 1/2 farthing and the noble and the groat but I don't expect most people have heard of them 😂
Comment from : @FSCforal

The old 1 pence coin was huge
Comment from : @jamiehughes5573

Hearing the double florin being called the barmaids grief makes me think about being a cashier and using our old canadian penny Too bad we never came up with a snazzy nickname
Comment from : @jakegarvin7634

👍
Comment from : @syahriliman12

Wear do you go to cash them in at
Comment from : @debbiehammer3581

I have
Comment from : @immikhan6947

Also the three penny piece locks into the indent on the one pound perfectlybrbrYou also missed the fact that the old 10p and two shillings are the exact same size as a new £2 coin
Comment from : @madyottoyotto3055