Coins commonly used by working class families in the early 1900s

At the time of my mother's early childhood recollections, the coins of Queen Victoria's reign (1837 - 1901) were still in circulation, alongside the current Edwardian ones. In May 1910 when my mother was five years old, King Edward VII died, and the early coins of King George V were added into the circulation.

  

Early 1900s copper coins: pennies, halfpennies and farthings

In the early 1900s, most of the coins in everyday use would have been what my mother referred to as 'coppers', ie pennies, halfpennies (pronounced 'hay-pennies') and farthings which were worth a quarter of a penny. Coppers were large and heavy compared with post-1971 decimal coins, and during the years just before decimalisation when inflation required rather a lot of coins had to be carried around in order to buy anything, a general complaint was about weight. Trouser pockets quickly developed holes and purses bulged.

Copper coins in circulation in the early 1900s.

Left: 2009 penny for scale. (Being new it still shines and is salmon coloured)
Centre: coins showing dates - Edwardian penny, Victorian penny, Victorian halfpenny and Victorian farthing.
Right: the same coins turned over to show the monarch's heads.

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Perhaps the weight of the coins didn't matter much in the early 1900s because a few coppers could buy so much. My mother spoke of going shopping for her grandmother with a halfpenny (written as ½d) to buy butter. A halfpenny was a very small amount of money by the standards of the end of the century. In 1971 when the United Kingdom went decimal, it would have taken 24 such halfpennies to buy just 5p. My mother's pocket money as a child was a halfpenny a week.

I started collecting coins from general circulation during the few years before decimalisation. There were not many Victorian coins around, but it was possible to collect some if one set one's mind to it. However, at that time, Victorian coins were over 70 years old and accordingly well-worn and a muddy brown colour, rather than the salmon pink of untarnished copper fresh from the mint. Nevertheless photographs of the old coins, even in a poor state state, do give a reasonable idea of what it was like to use them.

Edwardian silver coins: threepenny pieces, sixpences, shillings, florins and halfcrowns

Silver coins were the threepenny bit (also known as the threepenny piece); the sixpence; the shilling; the two shillings (known as a florin) and the halfcrown. There were no pound coins, but there were ten shilling notes and pound notes. (Silver threepenny bits, being the lowest denomination of silver coins, were traditionally put into Christmas puddings for luck. Many a person jarred their teeth on them.)

George V copper and silver coins in circulation in the early 1900s.

Left: 2009 penny for scale.
Centre: tails of coins - Edwardian silver theepenny bit, silver sixpence, silver shilling, silver two shillings (a florin) and silver halfcrown. The copper coins are for scale.
Right: the same coins turned over to show the monarch's head..

Pounds came as notes not coins.

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Paper money in the early 1900s

Notes had huge buying power in the early 1900s. For example, much later in the 1940s, I heard of a young woman starting work at the wage of £3 a week. My grandmother was horrified that anyone so young and with no qualifications could possibly earn so much. I remember the farthing being withdrawn as it no longer had any buying power.

This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as Join me in the 1900's and is © Pat Cryer.