Actually, the current 5p coins are similar in size to dimes. The old, shilling-sized 5p coins were phased out a few years ago, as were the old florin-sized 10ps, replaced by a coin resembling a US quarter. The 50p was likewise replaced with a more diminutive version. Perhaps the Royal Mint is running out of cupro-nickel.
Technically they’re not legal tender in Scotland either since Scots law lacks the concept!
I’ve a question about the old system: WHY?! What series of events led to the use of such a system?
Thanks, Usram; I thought there had been a change but I wasn’t sure. Does that mean that the old shilling coins are now pretty much completely out of circulation?
The five pence and ten pence pieces were reduced in size about ten years ago. First the five pence was reduced to a dime size and then the ten pence was reduced to about the same size as the old five pence piece.
It was derived from Ancient Roman/Byzantine currency. 1 libra (pound) = 20 solidi (shilling) = 12 denari (pence). France used the same system until the Revolution. It’s also where the old abbreviations; £(L), s, d; come from.
The system goes back to the Romans and Babylonians in terms of dividing measures into twelves, twenties and sixties- very useful when ‘stuff’ was not weighed but subdivided- halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths etc.
British coinage developed using this idea.
From:
http://www.johnowensmith.co.uk/histdate/measures.htm#coins
*A short history of coins in Britain:—
The earliest coins found in Britain were made in Gaul, and may date from the 2nd century BC. They are gold ‘stater’, the name commonly given to the standard Celtic gold coin.
From the middle of the first century AD until the early part of the fifth century, Britannia was a province of the Roman Empire. No local coinage was officially produced in Britain during this period. In the closing years of the third century, mints were established in Britain by usurpers for a while. Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain in AD411.
Silver coins produced in the middle of the 7th century are the first English pennies. This remained virtually the sole denomination of English coinage for almost five centuries. It had a weight of 24 grains (a ‘pennyweight’) during the reign of Alfred the Great.
Edgar introduced a new coinage in AD973, showing a stylised royal portrait on one face.
A major re-coinage occurred in 1279 which introduced new denominations. In addition to the penny, the halfpenny and farthing were minted, and also a fourpenny piece called a ‘groat’ (from the French ‘gross’).
In 1489 radical changes were made to the coinage. A gold pound coin was minted showing the king (Henry VII) enthroned in majesty, and was therefore called a ‘sovereign’. The shilling was also minted as a coin for the first time in the opening years of the 16th century, and for the first time a coin showed a fine profile portrait of the king rather than the representational full face imade of a monarch which had served on the coinage for the past couple of centuries.
In 1561 the first coins were produced by machinery (known as a ‘mill’) rather than by hand, but it was a slow process and did not replace hand struck coinage until new machinery was introduced in 1663.
In 1613, a copper farthing was produced as a silver coin would be too small.
In 1797, the first copper pennies were produced (‘cartwheels’) by application of steam power to the coining press.
In 1816 for the first time British silver coins were produced with an intrinsic value substantially below their face value – the first official ‘token’ coinage. Coins from 1816 are still legal tender today.
In 1849, a silver florin (one tenth of a pound) was introduced, as a first step towards decimalisation – which finally occurred in 1971!*
WHY are there 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard and 5280 feet in a mile?
WHY are there 16 ounces in a pound and also 16 ounces in a pint, except they’re different kinds of ounces, unless you’re in the UK, then there are 20 ounces in a pint, which makes the Imperial Gallon bigger than the US Gallon?
WHY do we have any of the meauring systems that we use, and why don’t we join the rest of the world in the metric system?
To quote Tevya from Fiddler on the Roof, “TRADITION!”
Meters? METERS? We don’t need no stinking meters! 
Yes, I was asking about this some time ago, but IIRC there are only two banks that have this privilege, Clydesdale and another. I don’t recall the name of that other bank though.
I thought it was three: The Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and the Clydesdale bank.
A less memorable quote is “Mental Arithmetic!”
Twelve is the most logical quantity for something that will need to be multiplied & divided frequently - it divides into 2, 3, 4 and 6. Unlike 10, which divides into only 2 and 5. For the uneducated masses, root-12 systems were the most suitable.
(Re. Scottish notes: the privilege of printing notes assigned to the Bank of England applies only under English law. Anybody is entitled to print notes in Scotland or N Ireland, provided they have the ability to honour them. As has been partially pointed out, the concept of ‘legal tender’ is irrelevant. Even under English law, legal tender only defines what a creditor is obliged to accept in repayment of a debt - it has no bearing whatsoever on other transactions. That’s why your pub is entitled to refuse a £50 note.)
Yes, all of those do issue notes - the slight confusion arises because only one bank now continues to issue £1 (one pound) notes/bills.
I think that one is the Clydesdale, but not entirely sure right now.
The continued existence of pound notes was a source of pleasure to many (tradition, and all that, plus most people seemed to dislike the pound coins* when they first came out - they looked more like those chocolate coins covered with gold paper, used to decorate Christmas trees than they looked like “real” money).) but realistically, now, pound notes are a bit of a pain. You go checking your wallet, think “ooh, happy, I have still got some papery money, that’s good, then” only to realise that the green ones cunningly disguised as real money aren’t worth very much.
- At first there was a slight tendency to refer to a pound coin as “Thatchers” on the grounds that it was hard and brassy and thought it was a sovereign, but that never did catch on.
Oh, and I have never understood these “ponies” and “monkeys” and so on. Insure whther ethose things are really ever said, or if it is all a joke.
And the above post is a bit of a mess.
Sorry.
Guess whose glasses just ejected one lens yet again.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
This is inconsistent.
A pound was 20 shillings with 12 pence to the shilling. A guinea was 1 pound + 1 shilling or 13 shillings.
Celyn, today’s mascot of cheap sub-standard whisky 
It’s Clydesdale. They’re quite rare now though. Inflation has simply got to the stage where a pound is more convenient as a coin.
There’s some about here who’d would swear people really use these terms, but I’ve never heard them used anywhere outside of an episode of “Fools & Horses”. I suspect they’re only brought out for the benefit of the tourists and Americans.
Since I don’t think it has been mentioned yet…
There has been for a few years a nifty two pound coin larger than the pound coin made of two metals so it has a sliver inner circle surrounded by a gold band.
Fair point…and it also has a quite nice design, especially as it was won by a random bloke in a competition (not sure if this includes the inscription on the edge)
How do you measure things then?
Or did you mean metres?