Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCT 17-21 May 2010

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pwhodges:
Having several ranges of coins distinguished by metal, thickness and shape is necessary to cover practical needs.

When I was young (i.e. pre-decimalisation in UK) there were two series of coins in common use - copper and silver (though no longer of those metals).  Actually, there were three, including the gold ones (sovereign etc, which stayed gold) which were not in common use.  But keeping proportionality of size to value (for ease of weighing, and to prevent problems with counterfeiting) meant that the size range for each type was very wide - a silver 3d  piece to a silver 5/- piece was a factor of 20:1 in weight, which is why the crown (5/- piece) did not circulate, and the 3d piece was replaced in common use by an anomalous 12-sided coin.  Even then, the size range from the 6d ("tanner") to the 2/6 ("half-crown") was considerably wider than we now have to handle.

Carl-E:
The size issue is one of value, based on the metals.  In the US, the penny has always been copper, since the early eighteen hundreds, and has always been (roughly) the same size.  There were two cent coins, which were about twice as big, and the original five cent coins were huge copper monstrosities.  The relative value of nickel to copper allowed them to make a five cent piece (nickel) much smaller.  The dime, a $.10 piece, was made of silver originally, and so is considerably smaller than a penny.  The quarter ($.25), $.50 piece, and silver dollar were all proportional to weight, with the silver dollar being a full 1 ounce of silver  (until '63, when silver-clad copper started being used...)  They were very large, and anything of larger denomination was made of gold.  There was a gold one dollar coin minted for a while, but it was smaller than a dime. 

The current "golden dollars" that the US has been minting for quite awhile now (no gold involved) are closer to the old gold ten dollar pieces in size, which makes roughly the same size as a quarter, which is a constant complaint about the coins.

Sorry, I come from a long line of US coin collectors, and though the only thing I collect are wheat back pennies (my prize is a 1909 VDB I found in change), different parts of the family have everything from prerevolutionary coins through every mint set ever put out!

In other words, we've hit one of my nerd spots...

And it's Sunday afternoon.  What else am I gonna do while waiting?

Binary:
Vote for my nephew's band Reachback?    :-D

Carl-E:
They're pretty good, especially for what look to be a bunch of schoolkids.  I enjoyed the video, despite the loading issues. 

But how do I vote?  There wasn't anything about voting on the page...

Akima:

--- Quote from: Carl-E on 23 May 2010, 14:46 ---In the US, the penny has always been copper, since the early eighteen hundreds, and has always been (roughly) the same size.
--- End quote ---
I thought they were plated zinc now? <wiki> <wiki> <wiki>

1793–1857    copper
1857–1864    88% copper, 12% nickel (also known as NS-12)
1864–1942    bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc)
1943            zinc-coated steel (also known as steel penny)
1944–1946    brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1946–1962    bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc)
1974            Experimental aluminum variety
1962–1982    brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1982–2009    97.5% zinc core, 2.5% copper plating
2009 (Limited)    bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc)
2010–present    97.5% zinc core, 2.5% copper plating

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