[Andrew Stephens]

Wheeee! Shiny new coin designs or us in the UK. Legal tender from today but not in circulation until the summer.


Unknown (until now) designer won a competition to design them and netted £35,000 for the designs. No royalty payments on the designs use though!

They join together to make a nice pattern.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Andrew Stephens 

No royalty payments on the designs use though!

No shock.

That would have been for the designer like a license to print money, err, mint coins.

-t

[Kerrigan]

I think the coins by themselves are somewhat unaesthetic.

[analogika]

I like that a whole lot.

[dav]

Originally Posted by Andrew Stephens 

Shiny new coin designs for us in the UK.

wow. very nice.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan 

I think the coins by themselves are somewhat unaesthetic.

Individually, they’re odd. First time I’ve seen a set of coins that need to be displayed in a specific way, all together, in order to make sense. Interesting idea, but I think it will be lost on most.

[Doofy]

They're bloody awful.

[moonmonkey]

Not quote sure if I can get used to them, and what happened to two pound coins?
Those were the best ones.

[Atomic Rooster]

What's on the other side, still an old hag?

Man, a one pound coin must pull the ole pants down. That's pretty heavy.

[Mastrap]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

They're bloody awful.

How come I was predicting this reaction.

[- - e r i k - -]

Why are you still hanging on to pennies and tuppence?

[Oisín]

Why shouldn’t they be?

Unlike Norway, which is perpetually ridiculously expensive, it is actually possible to buy things for less than 50 øre in most places in the world, even the UK.

(We still have our 25 øre, as well)

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

How come I was predicting this reaction.

Because you know I have taste.

[- - e r i k - -]

Individual grapes?

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Why shouldn’t they be?

Unlike Norway, which is perpetually ridiculously expensive, it is actually possible to buy things for less than 50 øre in most places in the world, even the UK.

(We still have our 25 øre, as well)

1p = 9 DK øre.

Really, what can you buy in the UK for that?

[Kerrigan]

Nothing, but there are scenarios in which you must pay for things that are segmented into price categories which are set to precise amounts. For instance, one might pay 72p for a bit of candy. I don't see how rounding to the nearest 5 or nearest 10 pence for the sake of convenience is economical. Plus, your view of foreign currency is rather provincial- not everything is demarcated according to Norwegian price points.

Anyways, these new coins are god-awful and will look dated and ridiculous in 10 years time. It is a testament to the trendiness and insubstantiality of British design these days.

[- - e r i k - -]

I'm a Norwegian living in Australia and I travel extensively. My view of foreign currency is provincial how exactly?

Yes, one may pay 72p for a bit of Candy. Rounding that to 70 or even 75p is a heck of a lot more economical. Worthless change is an economical and environmental burden and not to mention wholly annoying. Pricepoints are adjusted at 0.001 increments to either appear psychologically cheaper (as in the ubiquitous $9.99 or Kr. 9.90) or to try and rip you off by adding extra cents/pennies/øre to the price and hoping that you'll surrender the change.

[Kerrigan]

If there were no 1p coins then retailers would have an incentive to round up. And since the status quo reflects the fact that people are willing to evaluate small purchases as distinguished by a £0.01 variation, why should they want to risk having this figure rounded up?

[Kerrigan]

Although on second thought, the conversation is certainly too dull to be carried on for anything less than 1 quid.

[- - e r i k - -]

Incentive to round up? They are rounding up anyway. That's just inflation. Removing deflated values is economically sound.

That said, I do like the new design

[Face Ache]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan 

Anyways, these new coins are god-awful and will look dated and ridiculous in 10 years time. It is a testament to the trendiness and insubstantiality of British design these days.

I like 'em. I've got a small collection of old British coins here and IMHO the new coins will look right at home with them in 50 years.

[Face Ache]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Incentive to round up? They are rounding up anyway. That's just inflation. Removing deflated values is economically sound.

Australia ditched their 1¢ & 2¢ pieces without any drama.

When I left the UK (in '76) you could buy 4 Blackjacks for 1p. What can you buy for 1p today? Or a half-penny?

[Mastrap]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Because you know I have taste.

No, because it's such a typically British reaction.

"Newfangled nonsense, why do they have to meddle etc, etc"

No offence intended, it just really reminded me of my time living in the UK.

[Oisín]

Australia ditched their 1¢ & 2¢ pieces without any drama.

But they were worth less than half of their English counterparts.

Getting rid of the 1p coin might work, but you can still buy things (like candy) for 2p.

[ghporter]

There's a debate over here about dumping the penny. The current penny construction and current metal prices make each penny cost slightly more than 1¢ to produce. For now. A relatively minor tweak of construction, or the world getting its collective head together on metal prices-or both-will fix that. This sort of stupidity happened about 25 years ago, and the world economy shook out pretty well after that. I have no reason to think it's not going to this time.

I think that eliminating small denomination coins just adds to inflation. Maybe not formal inflation, but to the inflation of prices in general. It "feels" like the first steps toward hyperinflation, such as in Germany in the early 1920s...

By the way, I kind of like the new coin designs in the first post. Maybe not for daily use, but the design itself is both clever and artistic. I'm assuming that The Queen is on the other side, just like always.

[olePigeon]

I was half expecting the Hogwarts coat of arms.

[All_Insane]

Since when are there new coins? How did I not know about this? Granted, I get all my news from reading the one-sentance headlines outside The Scotsman newstands, but surely something like "UK Has New Coins" would make itself known...

[OreoCookie]

I like 'em.

[Jawbone54]

Who sits around making puzzles out of their money?

[Dakar the Fourth]

Old people.

[Andrew Stephens]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

There's a debate over here about dumping the penny. The current penny construction and current metal prices make each penny cost slightly more than 1¢ to produce. For now. A relatively minor tweak of construction, or the world getting its collective head together on metal prices-or both-will fix that. This sort of stupidity happened about 25 years ago, and the world economy shook out pretty well after that. I have no reason to think it's not going to this time.

I think that eliminating small denomination coins just adds to inflation. Maybe not formal inflation, but to the inflation of prices in general. It "feels" like the first steps toward hyperinflation, such as in Germany in the early 1920s...

By the way, I kind of like the new coin designs in the first post. Maybe not for daily use, but the design itself is both clever and artistic. I'm assuming that The Queen is on the other side, just like always.

Yes indeed, her Britannic maj is still on the reverse. They are HER coins, made in HER mint after all.

Beggin' your pardon your majesty.