Just watching Mary Poppins, and it seems like a lot of fuss was made of tuppence. Just how much was tuppence back in that day?
two cents
Two pence (pennies), of which there were 240 in a pound. If I’m not mistaken, the British system of currency (based on 12 instead of 10) went back to Roman times.
For many years, a pound was worth US$4.00. When you figure that 100 years ago, $1 was worth around $20 today, I guess you could actually buy a number of things with a UK penny.
Britain went decimal in the early '70s. The money lost a lot of charm when it did, IMHO. 
Two pence, actually…somewhat different. (Although I’d take two Pence over a Trump and a Pence…)
Bah…ninjaed, and far more completely.
Figure tuppence was worth about $16 in today’s money. That means…he would have made bupkis until the 1950s, when he would have lost everything when the British Empire collapsed.
“If you have no ha-penny then God bless you.”
Fifty pounds from a quick bit of blackmail, which impressed tommy.
Now, if you are looking for sense, I would look elsewhere.
A quick check shows that US$1 in 1910, the year MP is set, was actually worth $25.23 in today’s money. A British pound was worth US$4.86. You do the math. 
BTW, one pound in 1910 would be worth £114.23 today! :eek:
Yes, I know, Two Pence. Which is not really two cents. But how much was tuppence worth.
what could you buy with tuppence?
So it would have cost about a dollar to feed the birds or to open a bank account. Seems a little low to me, at least for the bank account.
Huh, this site says: I*n 1914, it cost one penny to post a letter.
For the same amount, you could buy a pint of milk or a loaf of bread, though most people were still baking their own.
Or you could buy a copy of The Oxford Times newspaper.
A quarter of loose tea would set you back tuppence and a pint of beer was yours for two pence-ha’penny.*
So, maybe $1 or two.
No.
Two “cents” mean two one-hundredths of a dollar/other basic monetary unit. Since there were 240 pence in the pound, tuppence were equivalent to 1/120th of a pound. Much less than “two cents”.
But a pence is a big copper coin, and a pound was about $5. So 1/100 of a dollar is less that 1/240 of $5. So tuppence was more than two cents.
What kind of beer do you drink?
Well, in a bar, sure, but you can get a can for a buck.
Yes, when I did the math it came to $1.02546 in today’s money. And that seems about right. In those days (from what I’ve read) you might give tuppence as a tip, as you might give a dollar today.
Well, here’s my 2 cents.
Well not really, I have nothing.
Only if by “cent” you mean an AMERICAN cent. The concept of a “cent” extends beyond just our own currency. 
‘cent’ as in per cent, i.e. 100 to the (whatever).
In the British system, pence are also called pennies, but never cents.