British Currency

BRITAIN last week took the first step in a three-year conversion of its currency to the decimal system by introducing the first two new coins, the 5-new-pence piece and the 10-new-pence piece. After more than four centuries of a cumbersome system based on pounds, shillings and pence--12 pence to the shilling, 20 shillings to the pound--the pound will equal 100 new pennies under the new system. Both new coins are equal in value to certain old ones: 5 new pence equals an old shilling and 10 new pence has the value of a 2-shilling piece (a florin). They are, however, the only two coins that are interchangeable in the entire series, which will be completed by the time conversion becomes total on February 15, 1971. The new coins caused a certain initial confusion: some London bus conductors refused to take them, taxi drivers grumbled at the nuisance and shoppers everywhere eyed their change suspiciously. For Americans, at least, the new system will end a rare period of relatively easy conversion: with the pound now pegged at $2.40, the old English penny for the first time equals an American penny.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.