Why did some British colonies use the £sd system and other decimal?

I bought a small lot of “British colonies coins” the other day, and noticed the British West Aftica used Lsd system, where East Africa used a decimal system.

Which got me thinking: Why did some colonies, for instance Nigeria, Gambia and Fiji use an Lsd system (or similar) untill independence or shortly before the British switched to decimal currency?

Other colonies used a decimal system, even under British rule, like East Africa, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.

Anyone who knows why there was this difference?

I thought it could be depending on if it was a mainly British setled colony or something about how rich/stable the colony('s economy) was? 

Hope someone can satisfy my curiousity :D

For Sri Lanka:

In 1825, the British pound was declared the official accounting money of Ceylon, replacing the Ceylonese rixdollar with a conversion factor of 1 pound = 13⅓ rixdollars. British silver money thus became legal tender on the island. Banknotes denominated in pounds were issued from 1827 onwards, replacing the earlier rixdollar notes. By June 1831, the old notes still in circulation were withdrawn from circulation and were no longer valid from that date.

The Indian rupee became Ceylon's standard coin from 26 September 1836, when the island switched to the Indian currency area. Sterling banknotes, however, remained in circulation after 1836 and were accepted in parallel with the rupee as a means of payment. The British silver coin remained as legal tender and commercial accounting also continued to be carried out in pounds, shillings and pence. On the other hand, the rupee and the anna were increasingly preferred as means of payment with a fixed exchange rate of 2 shillings per rupee (i.e. 1 pound = 10 rupees). The Bank of Ceylon was the first private bank to issue banknotes on the island from 1844.

The Indian rupee formally became unrestricted legal tender on 18 June 1869. On 23 August, the rupee, previously divided into 16 anna, 64 paisa and 192 pai, was decimalised and divided into 100 cents. It thus became Ceylon's money market currency and the sole legal tender from 1 January 1872, replacing the British pound with an exchange rate of 1 rupee = 2 shillings and 3 pence. 

The funny thing is that the Indian rupee was only decimalised 1957 but the demand for decimalization existed for over a century.

So probably because the people didn't want these non-base-10 systems of currency any more and the Brits thought it's less hassle to implement that then to deal with anything that would come if they didn't.

Jamtrup

I bought a small lot of “British colonies coins” the other day, and noticed the British West Aftica used Lsd system, where East Africa used a decimal system.

 

Which got me thinking: Why did some colonies, for instance Nigeria, Gambia and Fiji use an Lsd system (or similar) untill independence or shortly before the British switched to decimal currency?

 

Other colonies used a decimal system, even under British rule, like East Africa, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.

 

Anyone who knows why there was this difference?

 

I thought it could be depending on if it was a mainly British setled colony or something about how rich/stable the colony('s economy) was? 

 

Hope someone can satisfy my curiousity :D

Both British West Africa & East Africa also pegged their currencies to the Pound Sterling.

1 British West African Pound = 1 Pound Sterling.

20 East African Shillings = 1 East African Pound = 1 Pound Sterling.

Both Cyprus & Palestine also had their Pounds pegged as well.

1 Cypriot Pound = 180 Piastres = 1 Pound Sterling.

1 Palestinian Pound = 1,000 Mils = 1 Pound Sterling.

In the Americas, the Dollar currencies have their origin in the Spanish Milled Dollar - the Piece of 8 - 8 Reales.

In Ceylon, the Rixdollar was derived from the Dutch ‘Rijksdaalder’ & from the German ‘Reichsthaler’.

Aidan.

In addition to what Aidan said, it was mainly also to cover pre existing systems like in Ceylon/Sri Lanka - but also to satiate local trends.

Hong Kong/Straits Settlement/Malaya were decimal as many Chinese people in those places controlled commerce and since the 1700s had been using Mexican and American silver dollars as a unit. The system of dollar(Yuan) made up of 100 fen/sen (Cents) and the intermediate unit of Jiao (Ten cents or 1/10 of a Yuan/dollar). 

Also the humble brass Chinese cash coin was set a 1/10 of a cent or mil. The Chinese had been issuing banknotes known as “Flying money” and used a base 10 system - most coins before the 1850s were single “cash”, but occasionally Tong Bao and larger coins were issued usually worth 10 or 100 cash and cash coins were usually carried in strings in units of 10 coins. The flying money notes were mostly 900 - 1350AD but were in units usually of 100s and even 1000s of cash. However by the 1850s, the banknotes were being reissued in the old Chinese style (Usually paper with illustrations of strings of cash coins) and then by 1890 in a Western style with Chinese script on one side and usually English on the other. Banknotes, silver coins in units of mace, candereens and silver taels (Worth about $1.30) were recent, but cash coins go back at least to 220BC. The coin was very low value and designed to be a base unit for everything.

Trade with America, Netherlands and France also precipitated a decimal system and this extended to SE Asia as well. In 1870 Japan also adopted a decimal system again of a main unit made up of 100 minor units and 1000 minute units (10 rin = 1 sen, 100 sen = 1 Yen). Korea followed not long after with a decimal won by 1895. By 1860 French Indochina was using a similar unit  of 1 piastre made up of 100 centimes and again 1000 sapeques.

The British responded with decimal mils for Hong Kong (1/10 cent) and the coin looked like a Chinese cash coin with a hole, same with Indochinese sapeques. Hence why in 1862 The British made Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya decimal and the same with Sabah and those places.

The West Indies was mixed as places like Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas and Cayman Islands remained sterling until the 1960s, but many of the Leeward colonies went decimal in 1950 with an Eastern Caribbean dollar, again reflecting the legacy of decimal French currency used in their colonies and the older heritage of Spanish dollars and “bits” which were single reals worth 12½ cents. Add to this the gumbo of decimal American currency and Latin American republics mostly adopting Spanish real/dollar based systems in the early 1800s and most having their own decimal “pesos” by the later 1800s. By 1950 the UK was late to the table, but set up a new decimal dollar was pegged to the pound at $4.80.

This made sense as $4.80 meant that each decimal cent was worth exactly a halfpenny and thus a shilling was 24 cents, and that is why you get stamps with values like 24c, 48c, 60c, $1.20 and so on as they transferred to 1/-, 2/-, 2/6, 5/- etc. Pegging it at $5 seemed silly and this was after the 1949 devaluation.

The only place this system came unstuck was the British Virgin Islands, which in 1962 adopted the American dollar to adjust to the currency of the US Virgin Islands (Previously the Danish East Indies - another decimal currency since 1863) and thus stamps were denominated in US currency which was worth more than the Caribbean dollar. Today the Eastern Caribbean dollar still holds sway, although its quite worthless being around 20 cents. The sterling Caribbean colonies all went decimal between 1962 (Trindad and Tobago) and 1969 (Jamaica, Cayman Islands).

East Africa adopted a decimal currency in 1907 when it was separated from the Indian currency system, although they adopted a decimal shilling made up of 100 cents and again this was a low value currency. This put it inline with decimal currencies used in French and Italian colonies. Many Arabian and Indian colonies kept a rupee system however except places like Mauritius and Seychelles, which had the rupees, but like Ceylon a decimalised one of 100 cents to a rupee.

Finally West Africa had a bizarre hybrid system which was 10 cents = 1 penny and 12 pence equal a shilling, as low value holed coins worth 1 cent, 5cents and 10 cents were issued through to the 1950s. These were 1/10, ½ and 1 penny as well. This included Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Nigeria and Gold Coast (Ghana) along with parts of British Cameroon (Now the English speaking part of Cameroun). Nigeria was the last place to abandon sterling currency in 1973.

Good question and good replies, I enjoyed reading through this thread 

The use of the £sd (pound, shilling, and pence) system and the decimal system in British colonies was largely driven by when the colonies were established and their level of economic development.

The £sd system was introduced in the United Kingdom in the late 16th century and was widely used throughout the British Empire. It was used in many British colonies that were established prior to the mid-19th century, such as the American colonies prior to the Revolution.

However, as the British Empire expanded and economies developed, many colonies began to adopt a decimal currency system, which was seen as more efficient and easier to use. The decimal system was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1971 and was widely adopted in many of its colonies, including Australia and Canada, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Ultimately, the choice of currency system in British colonies was largely influenced by the economic development of the colony and the timing of its establishment relative to the introduction of the decimal system in the United Kingdom.

The last countries in the British Commonwealth to change over to decimal currency were the following;

Rhodesia - 17 February 1970.

The Gambia - 1971.

Malawi, Great Britain, the Isle of Man, & the Channel Islands - 15 February 1971 - & the Republic of Ireland is sometimes counted, being in a currency union with the U.K..

Malta - 1972.

Nigeria - 1 January 1973.

Aidan.

Yes Nigeria was last when they adopted the Naira made up of 100 Kobo on Jan 1 1973, they issued many stamps that year!. Malta switched on May 16th 1972 and actually introduced a 3 unit currency (1000 mils = 100 centi = 1 lira), but the mils were abolished in 1982 due to inflation.

Danial - need to correct some mistakes, the £sd system goes back much earlier than the 1500s. It was pretty much a left over from Roman days (Libra, Solidus, Denarius) and the British system had been formalised in most of Europe by the 9th century. The UK did not exist until 1801, in the 16th century you had England and Wales, Kingdom of Scotland and Ireland which was partly under English rule and independent kingdoms until the 17th century when it was essentially conquered by the British. Great Britain started in 1603, but the Scottish had their own pound until 1707.

The £sd system was in full use by 900AD, however only pennies were minted until the mid 1300s except the occasional experiment (Gold pennies of 20d and Groats in 1279). The Pound existed as a unit of currency and same with the shilling which was 12 silver pennies. France called them Denier, Portugal dinero, Germanic places - pfennig, Slavic ones - Fenigow and so on. However some places had inflation over time and the French shilling known as “sou” was worthless brass/billion piece by the 1700s and hence the term “I don't have a brass razoo”.

Many European places went into their own complicated systems of currency as the middle ages wore on, but all had a small silver piece which was their base coin such as the Lithuanian/Polish/Hungarian groat and Spanish real.

In 1344 the first Gold coinage was issued, a Leopard of 6/- or 72d, it was a flop and replaced by the noble of 80d or 6/8, 3 nobles equaled 1 Pound (Around 1350 - 51), and there was also another unit of currency called a Mark which was 160d or 13/4 (⅔ of a pound). In addition to Nobles, were the half noble and quarter (40d, 20d) and also the silver groat and halfgroat (4d, 2d) and now halfpenny and farthing (Previously pennies were cut into pieces for these amounts).

In the Middle Ages, a silver penny was the standard pay for a labourer in a day and it could buy 4 capons (Chickens) and a gallon of small beer. Most people paid a few pennies rent per quarter (3 months). Pennies had a lot of buying power back then and could be cut up for smaller amounts.

The base 10 system got a furtive start in 1477, with the issue of a Ryal of 10 shillings in Gold. In 1489 Henry Tudor issued the first pound coin, a large gold “sovereign” which showed the king seated on a throne. It was the first of many high denomination gold coins.

Shilling coins were not introduced until 1502 and called testoons. They were a response to large silver coins issued in Europe and the 1500s saw an explosion of large silver and gold coins, thanks to the Spanish plundering the Americas and huge silver mines found in central Europe. Britain finally added large silver crowns, halfcrowns and sixpences in the 1550s. By this stage all the coins we recognise from the early and mid 20th century were in place.

So the roots of the sterling system are much older, yet the technology and the need for large denomination coins did not come until well into the Renaissance, before then - it was all accounting units and rich people kept sacks of pennies and chests full of money. Most people never saw more than a handful of coins at once and they ended up being paid to the baron/lord for rent. In fact many people paid their rents in kind (Chickens, wood, maidens, fish etc) and coins only became commonplace in the towns and most people's pockets in the 18th century.

This is part of the reason, why most coins were issued after 1800 with the industrial revolution and growth in population. There are far more 3rd and 4th century Roman coppers surviving than medieval pennies from the 800 - 1350 period.

Moneytane

Yes Nigeria was last when they adopted the Naira made up of 100 Kobo on Jan 1 1973, they issued many stamps that year!. Malta switched on May 16th 1972 and actually introduced a 3 unit currency (1000 mils = 100 centi = 1 lira), but the mils were abolished in 1982 due to inflation.

 

Danial - need to correct some mistakes, the £sd system goes back much earlier than the 1500s. It was pretty much a left over from Roman days (Libra, Solidus, Denarius) and the British system had been formalised in most of Europe by the 9th century. The UK did not exist until 1801, in the 16th century you had England and Wales, Kingdom of Scotland and Ireland which was partly under English rule and independent kingdoms until the 17th century when it was essentially conquered by the British. Great Britain started in 1603, but the Scottish had their own pound until 1707.

 

The £sd system was in full use by 900AD, however only pennies were minted until the mid 1300s except the occasional experiment (Gold pennies of 20d and Groats in 1279). The Pound existed as a unit of currency and same with the shilling which was 12 silver pennies. France called them Denier, Portugal dinero, Germanic places - pfennig, Slavic ones - Fenigow and so on. However some places had inflation over time and the French shilling known as “sou” was worthless brass/billion piece by the 1700s and hence the term “I don't have a brass razoo”.

 

Many European places went into their own complicated systems of currency as the middle ages wore on, but all had a small silver piece which was their base coin such as the Lithuanian/Polish/Hungarian groat and Spanish real.

 

In 1344 the first Gold coinage was issued, a Leopard of 6/- or 72d, it was a flop and replaced by the noble of 80d or 6/8, 3 nobles equaled 1 Pound (Around 1350 - 51), and there was also another unit of currency called a Mark which was 160d or 13/4 (⅔ of a pound). In addition to Nobles, were the half noble and quarter (40d, 20d) and also the silver groat and halfgroat (4d, 2d) and now halfpenny and farthing (Previously pennies were cut into pieces for these amounts).

 

In the Middle Ages, a silver penny was the standard pay for a labourer in a day and it could buy 4 capons (Chickens) and a gallon of small beer. Most people paid a few pennies rent per quarter (3 months). Pennies had a lot of buying power back then and could be cut up for smaller amounts.

 

The base 10 system got a furtive start in 1477, with the issue of a Ryal of 10 shillings in Gold. In 1489 Henry Tudor issued the first pound coin, a large gold “sovereign” which showed the king seated on a throne. It was the first of many high denomination gold coins.

 

Shilling coins were not introduced until 1502 and called testoons. They were a response to large silver coins issued in Europe and the 1500s saw an explosion of large silver and gold coins, thanks to the Spanish plundering the Americas and huge silver mines found in central Europe. Britain finally added large silver crowns, halfcrowns and sixpences in the 1550s. By this stage all the coins we recognise from the early and mid 20th century were in place.

 

So the roots of the sterling system are much older, yet the technology and the need for large denomination coins did not come until well into the Renaissance, before then - it was all accounting units and rich people kept sacks of pennies and chests full of money. Most people never saw more than a handful of coins at once and they ended up being paid to the baron/lord for rent. In fact many people paid their rents in kind (Chickens, wood, maidens, fish etc) and coins only became commonplace in the towns and most people's pockets in the 18th century.

 

This is part of the reason, why most coins were issued after 1800 with the industrial revolution and growth in population. There are far more 3rd and 4th century Roman coppers surviving than medieval pennies from the 800 - 1350 period.

The Maltese Pound was only called ‘Lira’ (plural ‘Liri’) in the Maltese language, but not in English.

There were 10 Mils in 1 Cent - like in 1860's Hong Kong.

100 Cents = 1 Maltese Pound.

Aidan.

Thank you for repeating stuff I said again and finding some trivial detail I missed, but had already repeated in other posts.

Its like having a nagging and unwanted voice in your ear - like a mosquito that just will not go away. Usually it buzzes around and tries to be friendly, but it always stings you - just to let you know its presence is malevolent and unwanted.

I just wondered how I coped with coin collecting, before your gemlets of knowledge came along and saved me from eternal ignorance.

And you are wrong, English speakers called the Maltese currency - the Lira - they stopped calling it pounds in 1970s with Dom Mintoff's anti British rhetoric of the era. Today in Malta more people know Malti (100%) than English (81%) although English is very widely spoken and made a comeback since Mintoff was given the boot in 1987 - Malti is the native language, a form of Western Semitic/Arabic with significant Italo/Siciliano contributions.

Its from their Phonecian heritage going back to around 800BC, when people from modern day Lebnaon settled Malta (Melita) and their language stuck (earlier inhabitants may have adapted it or been bred out by then - theres a lack of archaeology between 2500 and 800BC). Also Malta was under Arab control at least from 820 to 1090AD. Their word for God is actually Allah, and for every Camilleri and Spiteri (Italian/Sicilian names) you have more Borgs, Mallia, Mifsud, Mustapha, Hassan, Buttigieg and Abela (All Arabic names).

Dominic Mintoff himself led the Malta Labour party and came to power in 1967, he instantly promoted the Malti language over English and bilingual signs went up immediately. Many English people were restricted and encouraged to leave Malta. By late 1968 Maltese stamps switched to Malti and the English language did not come back until 1987, money now had Malti on it and English was restricted to the back of banknotes. Malta became a republic on 31/12/1974 and started friendly overtures with Libya. It also became very poor and backwards and only in 1987 when the National party were voted in, did things change. In the meantime Malta gained a reputation for savage bird hunts, leftie based socialism, sheltering terrorists and exhanges with the UK, controversial murders like the one of Karen Grech, corruption and Valletta as a dodgy port of home for unsafe vessels.

The final insult was in 1979, when British troops were finally kicked out of Malta after 179 years of occupation and the Maltese even issued a stamp set celebrating the fact. In return Libyans and other Arabs were allowed to come in.

 Malta struggles with these problems today - but has bounded back from this period of isolation.

Trinidad in the 19th century is an interesting case. The British authorities tried to impose Sterling, but the inhabitants preferred dollars and cents. Yet the rate between the two currencies was fixed at 1 penny = 2¢, 1 shilling = 24¢, etc. etc. At some point a local newspaper editor pointed out that people just had to mentally convert Sterling into decimal. So, instead of saying “a florin”, say “48¢”.

However, as for the lowest values, the labouring classes were reluctant to abandon their traditional “stampee” and “half-stampee”. The stampee was traditionally a cut piece of silver equivalent to 2½¢ (i.e. half of a half-bit, the bit, here, being 10¢), so whenever there were farthings around (which wasn't often) it was possible to buy a stampee loaf of bread, or else to pay with a half-bit (= silver 5¢) and get in change a silver stampee or, in copper, a “penny-farthing”.

Among the lower classes, the half-stampee was the smallest value, commonly used for goods you bought in small quantities, notably the “half-stampee loaf”. The problem is that no British coin could make it up since the half-farthing was never imported into the island. This explains why the FD countermarking scheme became immensely popular. It defaced the new, shiny half-pennies to raise them by a ¼¢ to a half-stampee.

Also, the Port of Spain branch of the Colonial Bank became a major importer of British and Spanish-American silver, as well of US eagles and Spanish-American doubloons. British gold was also obtained, but to a much lesser extent.

It's interesting that there are, in the 1870s, orders for the silver 4δ pieces, but the Head Office in London informs the branch that the Mint doesn't issue those any longer.

Camerinvs

Trinidad in the 19th century is an interesting case. The British authorities tried to impose Sterling, but the inhabitants preferred dollars and cents. Yet the rate between the two currencies was fixed at 1 penny = 2¢, 1 shilling = 24¢, etc. etc. At some point a local newspaper editor pointed out that people just had to mentally convert Sterling into decimal. So, instead of saying “a florin”, say “48¢”.

 

However, as for the lowest values, the labouring classes were reluctant to abandon their traditional “stampee” and “half-stampee”. The stampee was traditionally a cut piece of silver equivalent to 2½¢ (i.e. half of a half-bit, the bit, here, being 10¢), so whenever there were farthings around (which wasn't often) it was possible to buy a stampee loaf of bread, or else to pay with a half-bit (= silver 5¢) and get in change a silver stampee or, in copper, a “penny-farthing”.

 

Among the lower classes, the half-stampee was the smallest value, commonly used for goods you bought in small quantities, notably the “half-stampee loaf”. The problem is that no British coin could make it up since the half-farthing was never imported into the island. This explains why the FD countermarking scheme became immensely popular. It defaced the new, shiny half-pennies to raise them by a ¼¢ to a half-stampee.

 

Also, the Port of Spain branch of the Colonial Bank became a major importer of British and Spanish-American silver, as well of US eagles and Spanish-American doubloons. British gold was also obtained, but to a much lesser extent.

 

It's interesting that there are, in the 1870s, orders for the silver 4δ pieces, but the Head Office in London informs the branch that the Mint doesn't issue those any longer.

Here is an example of a ½ Stampee currency token;

N#100665 .

Definitely one that has eluded me, along with the currency tokens of South Africa.

BCNumismatics

 

Here is an example of a ½ Stampee currency token:

 

N#100665 .

 

Definitely one that has eluded me, along with the currency tokens of South Africa.

Horatio Rapsey was a prominent baker and dry goods shopkeeper in Trinidad. It is very interesting that he issued a half-stampee token, though it is so scarce that he probably failed in this undertaking. The FD-countermarked half-stampees appeared around 1860-1861, which is at about the same time. Did Rapsey, a “gentleman baker” start the idea which François Desclos, a "cheap baker", imitated on the cheap with a pair of punch letters, or is it the other way round? I suspect Desclos and is many imitators were first, followed by Rapsey, but for now I have no way to prove it. Unfortunately, Rapsey's address on his token, 9 Frederick Street, doesn't help to narrow the chronology.

In light of what I said above, the D'Ade farthing is also very interesting. I suspect George D'Ade issued it in the early 1870s in order to provide the missing half cent to make up a stampee, but for now I can't prove it.

In Canada I understood that most of our trade was done with the U.S. so we adopted the decimal system. Accountants prefer the decimal system over pounds, shillings and pence. They make fewer errors and those made are easier to spot. That makes it an economic  reason. The first Canadian coins are dated 1858 well before confederation so the decision had been made by then.

This is from E.P. Neufeld, Money and Banking in Canada (1964):

in 1853 the Currency Act was passed. Canada adopted the mono-metallic gold standard in that year. The Act provided for a Canadian decimal currency unit and for Canadian coins based on dollars and cents; but since it was not until 1857 that an act was passed requiring government accounts to be kept in dollars and cents the actual official adoption of the decimal system in Canada occurred on January 1, 1858, when the latter Act came into force. 

The stuff about the stampees was very interesting.

And I agree, decimal currency is much easier for accountants - base 10 counting systems all are. The British were stuck in the past for too long. Their stuffy parternalism cost them in the end. Sadly we are still seeing remnants of this stuffiness. My country New Zealand is full of people who seem think “British is best” - and yes its borderline racist in my opinion. We are not called South Seas Poms for nothing. I mean we still have old white people ranting about how great pounds and pence were and how the UK shafted us when they joined the EEC in 1973.

Of course the younger people are more hip and with it, and our own nation is emerging. Most of us don't really care about royalty anymore and the Queen's death is proving the last strings to the UK being cut. Soon all we will have left is the English language and driving on the left and that may change (Hopefully).

Ethnic diversity is a wonderful thing and its good to see our young people (under 30) do not hold the racist attitudes many people over 60 do and some people on this site in their 40s seem to.

Moneytane

The stuff about the stampees was very interesting.

Let me add this. In his classic 1965 catalogue, Pridmore doesn't even show the silver stampee (a miniature silver pizza slice), probably because he got confused with the half-stampee:

Pridmore formulates a rather bold  (i.e. poorly defended) hypothesis that these 👆 were stampees, which means that the halfpenny's value would have been more than doubled by the countermarking scheme. Well, in spite of some problems of his own, Chalmers in 1893 had gotten to know that they circulated thus as half-stampees, and he was right.

If any of you have one or more of these, I would be very much interested in seeing good photos of both sides. There are patterns emerging, especially of the dates of the bronze halfpennies thus countermarked, which correspond to shipments sent to Trinidad by the Head Office of the Colonial Bank. The coin on the left is an 1864 halfpenny that most probably was part of the first shipment of bronze in early 1865.

So, the people of Trinidad liked the decimal system, but for the lowest values they reverted to the 1 / ½ / ¼ divisions, just like the US decimal system was often compromised locally by the 12½¢ “bit”. This also makes sense of the odd 6¼ denominations, e.g. the 6¼ centimes in Haiti. And in Venezuela, they had “la locha” (as late as 2007!), i.e. 12½ centavos, even though ½ centavo coins didn't exist. In other words if you paid something with a single “locha”, someone would be short of a half centavo ─ the buyer or the seller.

Self governing colonies.. that’s why, some chose to follow our system And others went decimal a lot of the time because they had close trade links with countries who used decimal too and it just made life easier. 

for example Nova Scotia ordered ½ cent coins but New brunswick decided not to. Before the United. The RM cocked up and minted ½‘s for them too. They’re a cool coin. I sold mine but sorta shouldve kept it. That being said, there was a major reason in my life then to shift them. 

Camerinvs

Moneytane

The stuff about the stampees was very interesting.

Let me add this. In his classic 1965 catalogue, Pridmore doesn't even show the silver stampee (a miniature silver pizza slice), probably because he got confused with the half-stampee:

 

 

Pridmore formulates a rather bold  (i.e. poorly defended) hypothesis that these 👆 were stampees, which means that the halfpenny's value would have been more than doubled by the countermarking scheme. Well, in spite of some problems of his own, Chalmers in 1893 had gotten to know that they circulated thus as half-stampees, and he was right.

 

If any of you have one or more of these, I would be very much interested in seeing good photos of both sides. There are patterns emerging, especially of the dates of the bronze halfpennies thus countermarked, which correspond to shipments sent to Trinidad by the Head Office of the Colonial Bank. The coin on the left is an 1864 halfpenny that most probably was part of the first shipment of bronze in early 1865.

 

So, the people of Trinidad liked the decimal system, but for the lowest values they reverted to the 1 / ½ / ¼ divisions, just like the US decimal system was often compromised locally by the 12½¢ “bit”. This also makes sense of the odd 6¼ denominations, e.g. the 6¼ centimes in Haiti. And in Venezuela, they had “la locha” (as late as 2007!), i.e. 12½ centavos, even though ½ centavo coins didn't exist. In other words if you paid something with a single “locha”, someone would be short of a half centavo ─ the buyer or the seller.

I recognise that ½ Penny ;) 

I thought so… and I know you mean the last of the three coins. Good to have you back on Numista.

Thanks mate, I can’t pretend I’ll be here a lot. But my previous account used to be bombarded with trade requests and people got annoyed when I didn’t respond which most of the time I didn’t even know about. 
 

anyway, this time I can just have my Gibraltar collection documented since most of my other coins of any note Are gone. Although, it was a comprehensive collection and loads are still here hahaha 

I have got so much wiser reading this! :D

I also saw among the British West Africa and East Africa banknotes a few of them are denominated in both shillings and pounds.

Thank you for all the answears! Now I have fun facts for the small chance someone will ask, haha.

Jamtrup

I have got so much wiser reading this! :D

 

I also saw among the British West Africa and East Africa banknotes a few of them are denominated in both shillings and pounds.

 

Thank you for all the answears! Now I have fun facts for the small chance someone will ask, haha.

Yep, also shown on the BWA fractional shillings that they went ahead with Puttimg Edward VIII on their coins despite the fact he was never Coronated :) 

MarkB90

Jamtrup

I have got so much wiser reading this! :D

 

I also saw among the British West Africa and East Africa banknotes a few of them are denominated in both shillings and pounds.

 

Thank you for all the answears! Now I have fun facts for the small chance someone will ask, haha.

Yep, also shown on the BWA fractional shillings that they went ahead with Puttimg Edward VIII on their coins despite the fact he was never Coronated :) 

East Africa also had coins in the name of King Edward VIII, as did Fiji & New Guinea.

He abdicated, & it was his younger brother, who was crowned instead, as King George VI.

I am looking forward to King Charles III's coronation - as I am sure there will be coins coming out for it.

Aidan.

BCNumismatics

MarkB90

Jamtrup

I have got so much wiser reading this! :D

 

I also saw among the British West Africa and East Africa banknotes a few of them are denominated in both shillings and pounds.

 

Thank you for all the answears! Now I have fun facts for the small chance someone will ask, haha.

Yep, also shown on the BWA fractional shillings that they went ahead with Puttimg Edward VIII on their coins despite the fact he was never Coronated :) 

East Africa also had coins in the name of King Edward VIII, as did Fiji & New Guinea.

 

He abdicated, & it was his younger brother, who was crowned instead, as King George VI.

 

I am looking forward to King Charles III's coronation - as I am sure there will be coins coming out for it.

 

Aidan.

Of course but since we were on the topic of africa I chose to use those as a reference. 

BCNumismatics

MarkB90

Jamtrup

I have got so much wiser reading this! :D

 

I also saw among the British West Africa and East Africa banknotes a few of them are denominated in both shillings and pounds.

 

Thank you for all the answears! Now I have fun facts for the small chance someone will ask, haha.

Yep, also shown on the BWA fractional shillings that they went ahead with Puttimg Edward VIII on their coins despite the fact he was never Coronated :) 

East Africa also had coins in the name of King Edward VIII, as did Fiji & New Guinea.

 

He abdicated, & it was his younger brother, who was crowned instead, as King George VI.

 

I am looking forward to King Charles III's coronation - as I am sure there will be coins coming out for it.

 

Aidan.

There were also some coins from Indian Princely states (Kooch and Puttiana I think) that issued coins in the name of King Edward VIII - but they were in Indian Native scripts, the African and Pacific coins in English.

Fijian Penny 1936 - 120,000 issued - scarce but not rare.

New Guinea coin (Northern right corner of New Guinea, formerly German NeuGuinea) 1936 - 440k issued I think, not rare either.

As you can see both coins were low value ones that did not show a portrait, just words and a cypher with symbolic crowns.

I don't have the African or Indian coins sorry.

The East African currency system was also a decimal system - 100 Cents = 1 Shilling & 20 Shillings = 1 East African Pound - which was equal to 1 Pound Sterling.

Aidan.

A fascinating thread. 

I collect farthings and I like to supplement my types with “not quite farthings” such as the Japanese rin and British Palestine mil.  I did not know that "the humble brass Chinese cash coin was set a 1/10 of a cent or mil". This is very interesting as it creates a sort of monetary or numismatic link between the British Empire and Imperial China. Can anyone cite a historical reference for this? (I am not doubting, just looking to dig deeper)

The characters used on the Hong Kong mil are interesting too.  From 1863 to 1865 they read (R to L)  文一 “one wen” where the character 文 “wen” which meanings “writing” is, I suppose, serving here in the sense of “a mark” which I am guessing implied something like “a basic unit of accounting”.  文 “wen” is arguably one of the most important characters in Chinese culture; indeed the Chinese term for “culture” is  文化 “wénhuà” literally “the writing transformation”, or “literacy”. 

In 1866 the character was changed to 千一 literally “one thousand” but obviously this meant “one thousandth”. 

The character used on the rin ( 厘 ) is also interesting, as in Japanese it can mean either 1/100 or 1/1000. In modern Chinese this character means “centi-” (1/100).  

My Chinese is terrible and I don't speak Japanese at all, so if anyone understands these characters better or differently, I would be interested to learn.

Are there any other “mil” coins out there?