# Queen Elizabeth And British Money **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048 "2010-11-01T03:46:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/21 "2010-11-01T16:10:18Z")
Hey, I have one of those! Are they valuable? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/22 "2010-11-01T16:10:23Z")
We still have the old king on most of our small-denomination notes, although oddly the big bills have the new guy on them. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/23 "2010-11-01T18:33:45Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Plus his birthday and the wife’s have been public holidays for as long as most people can remember. Will that change with a new set of royals? If so, it would be like changing the date of, say, Thanksgiving or Memorial Day, it’s so ingrained. When Hirohito died after 62 years on the throne, they just made his old birthday “Greenery Day” and made the new Emperor’s birthday a new holiday. It would have screwed up the (by-now) traditional Golden Week holidays to have gotten rid of it. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/24 "2010-11-01T19:27:55Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > **Sam Clem** can help on this, but one of the features of really sound monetary policy is that coins and notes are always good for their face-value. Your post containes too many ‘face-value’ references to not be some kind of awful pun, correct? Is British currency’s value in any way related to the value of the face of the monarch that appears on it, with the ugly ones worth a little less? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/25 "2010-11-01T19:45:33Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > Also, there are no pound notes. One of the Scottish banks still issues them, I think. They don’t have a picture of the monarch on them, however. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/26 "2010-11-02T03:32:40Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > Simply do what the Queen does: two birthdays. One for when you were born, one for the official date. Yeah, sure, I’ve thought about that, but the thing is the next person in line is not thought very well of and may indeed be so egotistical that it would gall him no end not to have his birthday celebrated in the exact same manner. I predict some sort of keruffle. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/27 "2010-11-02T03:52:18Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > When Hirohito died after 62 years on the throne, they just made his old birthday “Greenery Day” and made the new Emperor’s birthday a new holiday. It would have screwed up the (by-now) traditional Golden Week holidays to have gotten rid of it. At least the British won’t have to change their calender epoch when the Queen dies. > [@Future\_Londonite](#): > > In the Netherlands, our famous ‘Queen’s day’ is actually celebrating the birthday of the now deceased queen mum and not the birthday of queen Beatrix…I’m sure that if heir to the throne Willem Alexander becomes king, we will still keep on celebrating Queen’s Day on April 30… Surely he’ll at least change the name of the holiday to King’s Day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/28 "2010-11-02T03:55:43Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > Actually, the coins that were designed (but not issued) with Edward VIII’s head on it had him [facing left](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII_of_the_United_Kingdom#Reign)—he thought his left side was his best side. [Johnny Carson] I did not know that! [/Johnny Carson] ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/29 "2010-11-02T06:44:18Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > A similar issue are mailboxes (the public ones where you drop letters for delivery, not the private ones where the postman drops your letters). Each public mailbox in the UK bears the monogramme of the monarch who was on the throne when the box was set up. Since the average lifespan of these heavy British iron mailboxes is quite long, you still see - in addition to the numerous E(II)R monogrammes - also G(VI)R, E(VII)R or even the occasional VR symbol. We had a debate about this here in Ireland, post independence. Serious consideration was given to going around and chiselling out all the VRs,E(VII)s,etc. Ultimately they were left alone, on the presumption that the post boxes themselves would be replaced, by and by. As it happens, the nearest post box to my home is still a VR. They built those things to last. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/30 "2010-11-02T15:29:01Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Plus his birthday and the wife’s have been public holidays for as long as most people can remember. Will that change with a new set of royals? If so, it would be like changing the date of, say, Thanksgiving or Memorial Day, it’s so ingrained. As I understand it\*, legally, yes the national holiday will change, but I’m sure some compromise will be reached, maybe like the aforementioned “Greenery Day” solution. (Here in Canada, Queen Vicky’s birthday (May 24) has been the "official birthday of the Queen (or, presumably, King) since round about 1901. So, whether the ruling monarch has his or her birthday in good weather or not (part of the reason the official birthday isn’t always celebrated near the real birthday) it’s ensured to be so in Canada. I think we (or at least the government) has a hard on for Victoria because she was Queen when we were offered independence (well, what we were offered in 1867 wasn’t that much different from what we had in 1866, but July 1, 1867 is the date in national mythos that we came to be, although it could be argued that our independence didn’t really fully come until 1982). - note that I’ve never been anywhere near Thailand, I just like learning about things like this. > [@septimus](#): > > Discussion of QEII’s immortality reminds me of a funny story. I’ve a 30-year old Brit friend. He’s rather intelligent but has his lapses. Anyway, during the Olympic Games a while back the topic of national anthems came up, e.g. _God Save the Queen_. He suddenly looked startled and said > > “But … but what was our anthem before she was Queen !” 🆒 Oooh, anthems, my favourite topic, and something I’m considered a leading world’s expert on! I hope that you sent him to [my site](http://www.nationalanthems.info) (it does mention there what the slight changes to the wording of the anthem is when a male is the soverign, not just the changing of “Queen” to “King”. ---
**Author:** ![pdunderhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4bbf92/32.png) [@pdunderhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pdunderhill)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/31 "2010-11-02T17:56:02Z")
Hello Good people, I remember in the late '60’s and early 70’s that it wasn’t uncommon to see Penny coins dating back to Queen Victoria. It’s only since the change to decimalization that all the coinage changed once and for all. Peter (London, U.K.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/32 "2010-11-03T01:50:05Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > As I understand it\*, legally, yes the national holiday will change, but I’m sure some compromise will be reached, maybe like the aforementioned “Greenery Day” solution. I wish it were that clear here, but it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/33 "2010-11-03T13:30:28Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#): > > Ultimately they were left alone, on the presumption that the post boxes themselves would be replaced, by and by. As it happens, the nearest post box to my home is still a VR. They built those things to last. The two nearest me are also VR. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/34 "2010-11-03T16:56:24Z")
> [@pdunderhill](#): > > Hello Good people, I remember in the late '60’s and early 70’s that it wasn’t uncommon to see Penny coins dating back to Queen Victoria. It’s only since the change to decimalization that all the coinage changed once and for all. > Peter (London, U.K.) I think that’s just a matter of the amount of time elapsed in both cases. Seeing a Queen Victoria coin in 1970 would be equivalent to seeing a coin from 1940 today (a George VI coin, in other words) — certainly not unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![Elvis\_Chimney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/50afbb/32.png) [@Elvis\_Chimney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elvis_Chimney)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/35 "2010-11-03T17:18:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > One of the Scottish banks still issues them, I think. They don’t have a picture of the monarch on them, however. Got one in my change yesterday - they’re pretty rare nowadays. It’s from the Royal Bank of Scotland, has Lord Ilay (the first governor) on the front and Edinburgh Castle on the back. No mention of Queen Liz on it anywhere or, as far as I’m aware, on any Scottish banknotes. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/36 "2010-11-03T17:31:37Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > I think that’s just a matter of the amount of time elapsed in both cases. Seeing a Queen Victoria coin in 1970 would be equivalent to seeing a coin from 1940 today (a George VI coin, in other words) — certainly not unheard of. But if you see any George VI coins in circulation in the UK, it’s by mistake. All pre-decimal copper and brass coinage became obsolete in the 1970s; all sixpences and half-crowns disappeared in the 1980s; all shillings and two-shillings, formerly doing duty as 5p and 10p coins, went out of circulation in the early 1990s when the 5p and 10p were resized. Rarely, a pre-decimal shilling might be circulating in mistake for a 10p coin which is approximately the same size; it’s a little less likely that a 6d would be mistaken for a modern 5p; I have one farthing in my wallet which was presumably mistaken for a decimal penny (the size is similar). No pre-decimal coinage is intentionally still in circulation today. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/37 "2010-11-03T18:05:12Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > A similar issue are mailboxes (the public ones where you drop letters for delivery, not the private ones where the postman drops your letters). Each public mailbox in the UK bears the monogramme of the monarch who was on the throne when the box was set up. Since the average lifespan of these heavy British iron mailboxes is quite long, you still see - in addition to the numerous E(II)R monogrammes - also G(VI)R, E(VII)R or even the occasional VR symbol. Trivia: in the village of Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, there is not one but two E (VIII) R pillar boxes. As we call the red, freestanding mailboxes. You can see one in [Google Streetview](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=56.620071,-6.056514&spn=0,0.034976&z=15&layer=c&cbll=56.623189,-6.064429&panoid=tuePvqoAXwTQU0Y2r2mA1w&cbp=12,212.92,,3,6.22), unfortunately not with enough clarity to make out the insignia. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/38 "2010-11-03T18:52:43Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > Trivia: in the village of Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, there is not one but two E (VIII) R pillar boxes. As we call the red, freestanding mailboxes. > > You can see one in [Google Streetview](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=56.620071,-6.056514&spn=0,0.034976&z=15&layer=c&cbll=56.623189,-6.064429&panoid=tuePvqoAXwTQU0Y2r2mA1w&cbp=12,212.92,,3,6.22), unfortunately not with enough clarity to make out the insignia. And [another one](http://www.flickr.com/photos/funfilledgeorgie/253933303/) outside a pub in Winchester, not far from where I live. (Not my photo) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/39 "2010-11-03T21:45:31Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#): > > Ultimately they were left alone, on the presumption that the post boxes themselves would be replaced, by and by. As it happens, the nearest post box to my home is still a VR. They built those things to last. There are still several VR boxes around the streets of Sydney too. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048/40 "2010-11-04T00:30:36Z")
In the US, President Lincoln died 145 years ago. But coins with his image can still be found in circulation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-and-british-money/559048.md?page=3)