# Those 7-Sided UK 50 Pence Coins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-7-sided-uk-50-pence-coins/524317 "2010-01-09T20:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-7-sided-uk-50-pence-coins/524317/41 "2010-01-11T00:57:38Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Way off topic, but it’s actually spelled “sellotape”? I always assumed it would be “cellotape” from cellophane. [Sellotape](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellotape). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-7-sided-uk-50-pence-coins/524317/42 "2010-01-11T03:11:28Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > They have had an issue with counterfeiters “washing” the ink off of ones to use the paper to print bogus old, pre-security measures hundred dollar bills. I don’t think I’d take one of those (old $100 bill). But it’s been so long since I’ve seen one that I’m not sure I’d recognize one if I saw it. A new redesigned $100 bill (with added security features not found on other bills) was supposed to be released last year. However, I believe that last year the Treasury lost an ADA court case about currency not being distinguishable by the blind. I’m just guessing, but this may be what’s causing the delay. They may be attempting to incorporate Braille or some other tactile clue on the bill. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-7-sided-uk-50-pence-coins/524317/43 "2010-01-11T12:32:54Z")
> [@zelie\_zelerton](#): > > I wonder if the issue with vending machines perhaps did not exist at first. When the 50p was first produced it represented a fairly decent chunk of money. Even when I was a young child (early 80s) you could buy sensible things with 50p. As in some actual groceries and not just a bar of chocolate as it is now. > > Perhaps it was more the case that the products found in vending machines were never going to amount to such a great price as 50p and that people were more likely to have smaller coins anyway. I remember slot machines etc at the local arcade only taking (old-style) 5p or 10p coins when I was a kid. Quite a few also took coppers. It took quite a while before prices rose sufficiently that 50p (and later 20p and £1 coins) were required. By the time that products had increased in price such that it was worthwhile changing vending machines to accept them we were so used to the coin that it wouldn’t be worthwhile for the vending machine manufacturers to complain. I think you’re largely correct. My memories of the period are that there were very few vending machines of any sort at the time (in comparison to today), mostly selling small items like bars of chocolate – the only thing I can think of that might cost as much as 50p is cigarettes. Slot machines in arcades were the old, mechanical type like one-armed bandits and pinball machines, and mostly took only coppers, pre-decimalisation. Some were converted, but I think most were simply trashed and replaced with newer machines through the 70s (a lot of them were practically vintage by that point anyway). I suspect that there was a period of technological development in slot and vending machines in that decade, which coincided with a sustained period of inflation, meaning that manufacturers had an incentive to make their machines easily upgradable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-7-sided-uk-50-pence-coins/524317.md?page=2)