Sovereign = legal tender; why no denomination?

[CollectForFun]

5 hours ago, SidS said:

0.1% gold! I should start stacking these.

Forget gold, but 0.1g of iridium!?! That's already around £12 value solely based on that! Well, fortunately the numismatic value is higher otherwise all these coins would be swept from the market by iridium stackers fairly quickly! ☺️

Or junk iridium isn't yet a thing? 

[RacerCool]

On 09/04/2022 at 22:30, ady said:

Is this not why gold is the currency of kings, silver the curreny of...etc. The modern sov being a known weight, it is just a adjustment to mental calculation of worth, maybe silver as a commoner had to be stamped with value for ironically the more illiterate. Calculation of value has even been done on other threads to value of copper and nickel in coins.

For the unwashed maybe the coin should be stamped with two beer pints showing how much it's worth.  Or something similar.

[ady]

2 minutes ago, RacerCool said:

For the unwashed maybe the coin should be stamped with two beer pints showing how much it's worth.  Or something similar.

Give it couple of month and you might need one for a couple of pints.

[GoldDiggerDave]

2 hours ago, CollectForFun said:

Forget gold, but 0.1g of iridium!?! That's already around £12 value solely based on that! Well, fortunately the numismatic value is higher otherwise all these coins would be swept from the market by iridium stackers fairly quickly! ☺️

Or junk iridium isn't yet a thing? 

Got some iridium tipped spark plugs in the garage somewhere……

[LawrenceChard]

On 10/04/2022 at 15:11, SidS said:

Denominations stated on 'British' coins is an interesting one. I say British but actually mean English before 1707. Scottish coins etc. might have their own examples but I know nothing about those.

The first English coins I can think of with denominations stated are James I coins from the 1603-25 era. The silver/gold coins often have the denomination stated in Roman numerals - VI for sixpence, XX for the Pound coin (20 shillings, which went by many names), XXX for half crown (30 pence).

This continued through to the end of hammered in 1662.

Then stated denominations were mostly scrapped, except for Maundy coinage which stated the value in a variety of ways. Interlinked C's during Charles II's reign, Roman numerals (actually I for Iacobus) during James II's reign, giving way to Arabic numerals onwards from 1689.

The farthing joined the value stated club in 1799, the Sixpence and Shilling joined in 1831-4, although had a brief spell out of it again during 1887-1892. The Britannia groat hit the ground running in 1836 with denomination stated.

The florin debuted in 1849 with two denominations 'one florin' and 'one tenth of a pound' stated proudly.

The bronze coinage of 1860s onwards started with denominations.

Realistically there was a slow shift to full denominations stated from the 1830s onwards. Up until 1887, when there was a blip backwards to no denominations stated throughout the jubilee era (except denominations 6d downwards, which kept them).

By the old head era the denominations started up again. The crown upwards though didn't, as stated in other posters' replies.

So it's way more complex than at first glance.

I have just created a new topic which covers some of the points in this thread:

 

🙂

[LawrenceChard]

On 10/04/2022 at 00:39, FourNinesFine said:

Firstly, sorry for a super-noob question.

I know that the sovereign IS legal UK tender, so not looking for clarity on that. I'm just wondering:

1) why it's allowed to be legal tender when the coin itself doesn't carry a denomination

2) is there a reason it doesn't - historically?

I thought there may some fascinating back-story. Or is it just that it's the most famous coin in the world, so why bother explaining it when everyone knows what it is?

 

I just happened to chance on this post again today, and thought of a different way to explain, based on your "most famous" comment.

Does Donald Trump need to wear a tee shirt saying "I am Donald Trump"?

Ignoring the fact that he is such an egotist that he might do, there would be little or no point. He must currently be one of the most recognisable people in the world. Anyone who did not recognise him would probably read the tee shirt, and say "Who is Donald Trump?" anyway.

😎

Edited August 3, 2022 by LawrenceChard

[HerefordBullyun]

6 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

I just happened to chance on this post again today, and thought of a different way to explain, based on your "most famous" comment.

Does Donald Trump need to wear a tee shirt saying "I am Donald Trump"?

Ignoring the fact that he is such an egotist that he might do, there would be little or no point. He must currently be one of the most recognisable people in the world. Anyone who did not recognise him would probably read the tee shirt, and say "Who is Donald Trump?" anyway.

😎

I took a Donald on the lav earlier. A sight to behold!

[kimchi]

1 hour ago, HerefordBullyun said:

I took a Donald on the lav earlier. A sight to behold!

I've just had a Hillary