Jump to content
British Coin Forum - Predecimal.com

50 Years of RotographicCoinpublications.com A Rotographic Imprint. Price guide reference book publishers since 1959. Lots of books on coins, banknotes and medals. Please visit and like Coin Publications on Facebook for offers and updates.

Coin Publications on Facebook

   Rotographic    

The current range of books. Click the image above to see them on Amazon (printed and Kindle format). More info on coinpublications.com

predecimal.comPredecimal.com. One of the most popular websites on British pre-decimal coins, with hundreds of coins for sale, advice for beginners and interesting information.

Viccy Penny

Shillings & Florins in circ. after 1971

Recommended Posts

Hello all, this seems like a great forum.

I have been doing metal detecting as a hobby, and the other day I found a 10 (new) pence coin dated 1968, and realized it was same size and shape as a pre-decimal two shilling coin or florin.

As I'm sure many of you know, decimalization involved the pound staying the same but divided into 100 new pence, rather than 20 shillings as it was in 'old money'. So it follows that 1 shilling = 5 new pence and 2 shillings = 10 new pence, and the new 5 pence and 10 pence coins where exactly the same size & shape as there pre-decimal equivalents. So these 4 coins could co-exist in circulation until the early 1990s when the 5ps and 10ps where made smaller, and shillings and florins where finally demonetized. 

So I was curious to ask on here, to those a bit older than I am,  so therefore can remember! - how common was it to find shillings and florins in circulation after 1971 and decimalization? 

It is a strange numismatic quirk that these pre-decimal coins where still 'money' in a post-decimal world, so I was curious to ask of your experiences. 

Thanks

Milo

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Florins and shillings were only slowly taken out of circulation - if you found a cash register from say 1976 around 60% of the silver in it would be  pre-decimal , in 1986 prob around 45% would be old money  and in 1990 it would be 35% .

Copper was taken out very quickly and you never saw any after around 1973.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It was extremely common to find florins and shillings in change though it gradually lessened up to 1990/2 when the sizes changed and they were all withdrawn. It was also possible to find pre-47 silver, usually George VI. The humble sixpence also survived until 1980, though there never was a 2 1/2p coin.

Note that the mintage of 10 pences and 5 pences (from 1968) never came anywhere near the mintage of 1971 bronze, for precisely this reason, that florins and shillings were only gradually withdrawn.

copper123 - you didn't see ANY copper after August 1971 as it was no longer legal tender. In fact halfpennies were demonetised in 1969, so only pennies survived to 1971.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

It was extremely common to find florins and shillings in change though it gradually lessened up to 1990/2 when the sizes changed and they were all withdrawn. It was also possible to find pre-47 silver, usually George VI. The humble sixpence also survived until 1980, though there never was a 2 1/2p coin.

Note that the mintage of 10 pences and 5 pences (from 1968) never came anywhere near the mintage of 1971 bronze, for precisely this reason, that florins and shillings were only gradually withdrawn.

copper123 - you didn't see ANY copper after August 1971 as it was no longer legal tender. In fact halfpennies were demonetised in 1969, so only pennies survived to 1971.

Sorry yes I was quite younng at the time and yes it was withdrawn quite quickly .

I found my last silver coin in my change in a pub given out as change in 1989 amazing really it was a florin as well

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I seem to remember sixpences lasting into the eighties as well

Edited by copper123

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
11 minutes ago, copper123 said:

Sorry yes I was quite younng at the time and yes it was withdrawn quite quickly .

I found my last silver coin in my change in a pub given out as change in 1989 amazing really it was a florin as well

Yes - I too found more pre-47 florins than shillings, though that may just be coincidence; the mintages of Geo VI silver florins and shillings are broadly similar. On the other hand, before 1982's 20p introduction you'd see many more florins as you'd get up to 4 as change from 50p, where you'd only get one shilling. 

Sixpences survived until 1980 when they were demonetised.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the interesting replies, it's good to know these venerable coins were still common in change.

I was born in 1984 so only have a vague memory of shillings & florins and learning that they were the same as the 5ps and 10ps but then of course they were made smaller and no more shillings.

Did 19th century shillings & florins ever crop in change in this time?

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Viccy Penny said:

Thanks for the interesting replies, it's good to know these venerable coins were still common in change.

I was born in 1984 so only have a vague memory of shillings & florins and learning that they were the same as the 5ps and 10ps but then of course they were made smaller and no more shillings.

Did 19th century shillings & florins ever crop in change in this time? 

 

No they had been picked out long ago as they were high silver content also they all rapidly dissapeared in the late sixties with the decimalisation hysteria.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

5 hours ago, Viccy Penny said:

 

Did 19th century shillings & florins ever crop in change in this time?

 

"crop up in change" is what I meant of course, 

 

1 hour ago, copper123 said:

No they had been picked out long ago as they were high silver content also they all rapidly dissapeared in the late sixties with the decimalisation hysteria.

But anyway thanks copper123, I suppose it was not suprising that would happen. 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, Viccy Penny said:

Did 19th century shillings & florins ever crop in change in this time?

I would largely agree with copper. However, it wasn't out of the question, and I expect on rare occasions someone would pull a (grim) pre-1920 coin from their change. It never happened to me but not impossible. Do bear in mind that the only factor in such coins that went up in the 70s was their bullion value.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
21 minutes ago, Peckris 2 said:

I would largely agree with copper. However, it wasn't out of the question, and I expect on rare occasions someone would pull a (grim) pre-1920 coin from their change. It never happened to me but not impossible. Do bear in mind that the only factor in such coins that went up in the 70s was their bullion value.

Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, it was quite common to find well worn Victoria OH pennies and halfpennies in our change. It was equally not unusual to find Edward VII silver and especially florins and halfcrowns in change.

I worked in Woolworths in 1970 during my summer holidays and handled a lot of change. Knowing what I know today, perhaps I should have looked at it more closely.

Edited by jaggy
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I did find about four pre 1920 silver coins in the years 1975-79 if I remember rightly they were sixpences and shillings no florins  so it was prob only 10p face value - they were in dire straits and it was very hard to work out what the dates were , they were true "scrap only" coins .

TBH  it was hardly even worth looking with  the amount you found , I remember the best place to be given silver was by passing a note to an ice cream van , it's logical if you think about it , pester power would get parents to seach the bottom of a drawer to find a coin for little billys ice cream

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I certainly remember picking up pre-1920 silver during the 60s, but it had pretty much faded out by the 70s. I don't recall ever getting any Vicky silver but I heard a tale of someone in New Zealand getting a William IV halfcrown in change!

Best I had, only ten years ago was finding that one of the "pennies" in my pocket after a day at the market was actually a half sovereign. Somebody must have gone home very upset!

 

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well some people just have all the luck in the world don't they.

Best I can manage is the odd pre decimal farthing or Euro two cent coin in my change for a penny .

No wonder your collections so good paddy

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I worked as a betting shop cashier for a year in 1990-91 and during that time (with the shop manager's express permission) I swapped out from my till 2 silver shillings (1935 and 1946) and 3 silver florins (1922, 1929 and 1941).  I still have the 1929 and 1941 florins and sold the other 3 coins as scrap silver.

https://imgur.com/a/azGawQF

Edited by Stuntman
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i remember as a child in the 80's getting florins in my change, the flowery one of Elizabeth, don't recall any shilling coins though but defo rememeber the flowery florins 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, to try to be more specific, what would you guys say was the average % of shillings & florins in change, lets say in around 1980, roughly halfway between decimalization and the withdrawal ?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, Viccy Penny said:

So, to try to be more specific, what would you guys say was the average % of shillings & florins in change, lets say in around 1980, roughly halfway between decimalization and the withdrawal ?

That's very difficult. How long is a piece of string?

You would probably need to look at the mintage of 10p's and 5p's between 1968 and 1980, compare that with the mintage of shillings and florins between 1947 and 1967, then do a 'finger in the air' estimate of 1) the withdrawal of older coins due to wear, i.e. the normal course of events and 2) the mass withdrawal of coins by collectors and nostalgics and speculators in the few years before 1971. 

My own very rough guess is that the number of pre-dec coins still in circulation would have been less than a quarter, and maybe  considerably less.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 9/24/2018 at 8:21 PM, Viccy Penny said:

Hello all, this seems like a great forum.

I have been doing metal detecting as a hobby, and the other day I found a 10 (new) pence coin dated 1968, and realized it was same size and shape as a pre-decimal two shilling coin or florin.

As I'm sure many of you know, decimalization involved the pound staying the same but divided into 100 new pence, rather than 20 shillings as it was in 'old money'. So it follows that 1 shilling = 5 new pence and 2 shillings = 10 new pence, and the new 5 pence and 10 pence coins where exactly the same size & shape as there pre-decimal equivalents. So these 4 coins could co-exist in circulation until the early 1990s when the 5ps and 10ps where made smaller, and shillings and florins where finally demonetized. 

So I was curious to ask on here, to those a bit older than I am,  so therefore can remember! - how common was it to find shillings and florins in circulation after 1971 and decimalization? 

It is a strange numismatic quirk that these pre-decimal coins where still 'money' in a post-decimal world, so I was curious to ask of your experiences. 

Thanks

Milo

 

Very common. In fact it was getting a GEF with lustre 1951 two shilling piece in my change, which got me interested in coins in the first place. That was as late as August 1990, when I was 12 years of age. 

Obviously the post decimalisation continued circulation of shillings and florins had been going on since 1971. But certainly, as I remember, was never actually mentioned by anybody. It was just accepted that they were substitute 5p's and 10p's, without comment. 

One thing was noticeable, and that was the lack of pre 1947 shillings and florins in circulation. In fact I never saw one in the few years I had actual experience of these coins. They'd all long been taken out of circulation by those wanting to melt them down for their silver content.  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, Viccy Penny said:

So, to try to be more specific, what would you guys say was the average % of shillings & florins in change, lets say in around 1980, roughly halfway between decimalization and the withdrawal ?

Can't speak for 1980, but I'd imagine it was somewhat higher than 10 years later, when I'd say it was maybe something like 1 in 8 - ballpark estimate. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Thanks for your replies, I appreciate that it is a difficult thing to quantify the proportion. 

 

6 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

 

Obviously the post decimalisation continued circulation of shillings and florins had been going on since 1971. But certainly, as I remember, was never actually mentioned by anybody. It was just accepted that they were substitute 5p's and 10p's, without comment. 

 

That's sort of how I remember it as well, they were just "funny" 5ps and 10ps. Sort of strange really. Maybe because it felt weirdly regressive to call them shillings and florins, like when you have a dream about someone you know who's dead, being alive  - It's not very nice. 

Edited by Viccy Penny
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, it was fairly unusual to find the pre-1947 silver shillings and florins/two shillings in change in 1990.  When I was in the betting shop I would receive hundreds of 5p/10p coins over the counter every day, and found only 5 pre-1947 silver coins in a year.  This was a massively higher hit rate than I had found in change over the previous 10-plus years, probably no more than another 5 in total!

Edited by Stuntman
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, Stuntman said:

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, it was fairly unusual to find the pre-1947 silver shillings and florins/two shillings in change in 1990.  When I was in the betting shop I would receive hundreds of 5p/10p coins over the counter every day, and found only 5 pre-1947 silver coins in a year.  This was a massively higher hit rate than I had found in change over the previous 10-plus years, probably no more than another 5 in total!

Betting shop customers , some , tend to be the ones that will look through the bottom of a drawer and find "interesting" coins that have been hidden away to get their "fix"

Edited by copper123

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Funny enough in the early eighties I also remember coming across quite a few proof coins broken out of proof sets in circulation , they were hard times those thatcher years

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Only if you were lazy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×