Keeping track of your port

[Andy Velebil]

Still havn't figured out why we have a penny these days...totally annoying when i have a pocket full of them.

Put 300 of them in a sock and take it with you the next time you meet some bad guys at 3am

On that note, i once got called to a small market where the clerk was upset because some guy put down about 500 pennies to pay for an item. The clerk didn't want to count them, and the guy had no other cash and didn't want to put back the food....so a little arguement ensued and I was summoned there. The clerk didn't like me...told him it was legal cash and he HAD to accept it. That was a lot of counting for him

[jdaw1]

In the United Kingdom
…
Currently, 20 pence pieces, 25 pence coins (although many retail outlets do not recognise or accept this) and 50 pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 10 pounds; 5 pence pieces and 10 pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 5 pounds; and 1 penny pieces and 2 pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 20 pence.[4]

[uncle tom]

Still havn't figured out why we have a penny these days...totally annoying when i have a pocket full of them.

There is a good argument for abolishing copper coinage on both sides of the pond.

Here the 1p coin is now easily the most worthless we have ever had, even though it is worth nearly 2 US cents. We could easily live without anything smaller than a 5p.

I find it interesting to note the way the American public have virtually abandoned the 50c coin. The european tradition of issuing currency with three denominations for each order of magnitude; half-one-two seems unnecessary, and a two stage quarter-one provision, seems more in tune with everyday needs.

In the UK, the 20p and 50p could be replaced by a new 25p; a new 'half crown' (£2.50) could replace both the £2 coin and scruffy £5 note, and a £25 note could replace both the £20 and unloved £50. There is no need for larger denominations.

With the removal of the 1p and 2p, that would leave us with a tidy currency of just five coins and two notes, compared to the ludicrous fifteen denomination eurozone arrangement, complete with coins that are tiresomely similar to each other, and big value notes that no small retailer could contemplate carrying change for.

- just my 2c (or 1.79p - and falling...)

Tom

[g-man]

I've heard from a fellow currency trader once that the only useful purpose of the 500 Euro bill was to .... trade guns .... and deposit the gun money into banks.
and you guys need a 1 £ note. Certain types of clubs forbid throwing heavy coins and a 5£ note is clearly too pricey for what it's worth.

[jdaw1]

If you go back and read the consultation documents put out by the European Monetary Institute (precursor of ECB), the large EUR notes are there because there are large CHF notes, and the ECB wanted large cash transactions to be in Euro. They came very close to explicitly wanting the criminal business.

Meanwhile, the largest sterling note is £1,000,000·00. Yes, a million pound note. I have held one.

[g-man]

£1,000,000·00 note wasn't that a movie with gregory peck?

[g-man]

If you go back and read the consultation documents put out by the European Monetary Institute (precursor of ECB), the large EUR notes are there because there are large CHF notes, and the ECB wanted large cash transactions to be in Euro. They came very close to explicitly wanting the criminal business.

Meanwhile, the largest sterling note is £1,000,000·00. Yes, a million pound note. I have held one.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknote ... _notes.htm

off by a few zeros =)

£100,000,000·00 - the Titan

[jdaw1]

Oh, they do hundreds now. That’s new. The one million pound notes, for what it’s worth, were printed in plain black on one side of A5 paper. No colour, no watermark, no hologram, nothing.

[uncle tom]

The one million pound notes, for what it’s worth, were printed in plain black on one side of A5 paper. No colour, no watermark, no hologram, nothing.

They were also de-monetarised a long time ago - I think there are still some some £1,000 pound notes around that the Bank of England would exchange for new notes, if asked..

..many years ago, I found half a dozen scruffy, out of date pound notes, and used them as an excuse to walk into the Bank of England to change them..

Through the great Iron-clad doors, past the pink uniformed footmen, to a clerk with slicked hair hovering behind a polished lectern - a total time-warp.

He politely directed me to a large polished oak door on the left, behind which lay a room decked out like an ordinary high street bank. The rather bored looking teller cheerfully changed my notes for brand spanking new ones..

Tom

[jdaw1]

No. The million pound notes are absolutely not demonetised.

As the non-Brits might not know, some Scottish and Northern Irish banks have an ancient right to issue their own banknotes (this goes back to the days of “Free banking†, another subject). But since the 1844 Act they must hold Bank of England notes against their own issue. But the Bank of England doesn’t want to go to the cost of printing huge numbers of expensive notes (holograms, security features, and all) for these to sit unseen in a vault. So the BoE banknotes owned by the Scottish banks are the Giants and Titans: they exist to satisfy a legal nicety, and never leave the premises of the Bank of England.

Are we off-topic yet?

[DRT]

some Scottish and Northern Irish banks have an ancient right to issue their own banknotes (this goes back to the days of “Free banking†, another subject). But since the 1844 Act they must hold Bank of England notes against their own issue. But the Bank of England doesn’t want to go to the cost of printing huge numbers of expensive notes (holograms, security features, and all) for these to sit unseen in a vault. So the BoE banknotes owned by the Scottish banks are the Giants and Titans: they exist to satisfy a legal nicety, and never leave the premises of the Bank of England.

This reminds me of a question I meant to ask a few weeks ago. Why is the team we send to the Olympic Games named "Great Britain" or "Team GB"? Should it not be "United Kingdom", thereby including the Northern Irish (which I think it does)?

Are we off-topic yet?

Nearly.