Non-motoring > Pounds Shillings and Pence	Legal Questions
Thread Author: zippy	Replies: 32

New Fri 1 Jul 22 23:05   Pounds Shillings and Pence - zippy

The only thing that I recall from pre-decimalisation is getting a thruppenny bit as pocket money every once in a while. I have been watching "Look at Life" on Talking Pictures and lots of items in shops seemed to be priced just in shillings - e.g. a pair of shoes at 40' or 45'. (The film is from the very late 1950's or early 60's so I guess they are not pence or perhaps they were?) Can some of the wiser forum members please educate me as to why these items were not priced up as £2 or £2, 5s? Thanks. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 02:01   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Terry

In 1960 I was 7 and the average wage was £14 per week - about 6 shillings an hour (about 30p). My pocket money age 7 was 7d (in old pence = ~3p). I was able to buy a comic and a packet of sweets. When I was 8 it increased to 8d .... A loaf of bread was 1 shilling (5p). Guineas (21 shillings) were still commonly used for billing in the professions (lawyers, accountants, architects etc) despite coinage going out of circulation ~150 years earlier. Why things were priced in shillings - perhaps most people found it easier to differentiate the price of one product against another as the figures would be evidently different. We possibly do similar today - eg: buying (say) clothing we may look at the first number on the price label - eg: a pair of shoes costing £30 or £40, or £50. We often do not differentiate on price between (say) £42 and £44. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 06:50   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Duncan

Are you really sure you want to do this? During the war - that's World War 2, not the Crimean - I was given 6d to go to Saturday morning pictures in Whitton. There was a Ritz cinema - later the Odeon - at the bottom of the High Street. I went with my cousin for a while, but then he died when he was 8. Later, when my brother was 14 and got a Saturday morning job, he gave me 6d a week as well. Later still, I inherited his Saturday job, quite good pay as a butcher's boy, 12s 6d to start, rising to 15s, and then 17s a week. We have done all this previously, haven't we? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 09:23   Pounds Shillings and Pence - bathtub tom

>>We have done all this previously, haven't we? Dunno, can't remember. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 10:13   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Clk Sec

>> >>We have done all this previously, haven't we? Five bob says we haven't... Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 12:58   Pounds Shillings and Pence - R.P.

Guineas (21 shillings) were still commonly used for billing in the professions (lawyers, accountants, architects etc) despite coinage going out of circulation ~150 years earlier. Our next door neighbour in the last place is a farmer, he sold some sort of sheep for a hideous amount of money quite recently. This was priced in Guineas..see below; "A ram lamb from his Rhaeadr flock at Tan-Yr-Accar, Llanrhaeadr , sold for £131,25 to lead the trade on a day the sale average jumped 26%. His sale leader was Rhaeadr Best of the Best, a much fancied lamb by the 70,000gns Teiglum Young Gun and out of a 12,000gns Auldhouseburn-bred ewe by the 145,000gns Knap Vicious Sid. After attracting significant pre-sale attention, Myfyr’s ram lamb became embroiled in a fierce bidding battle that quickly climbed past six figures. The hammer eventually fell at 125,000gns to Hugh and Alan Blackwood of the Auldhouseburn flock, Murikirk, Ayrshire" Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 21:29   Pounds Shillings and Pence - smokie

Ha. No wonder a bit of lamb is so pricey... Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 07:02   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Manatee

>>lots of items in shops seemed to be priced just in shillings - e.g. a pair of shoes at 40' or 45'. You mean 40/- or 45/-? Shillings yes. So a couple of quid. Stuff like that is much cheaper now in real terms. For my summer job labouring job in 1968 at 15, I got £5 a week. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 07:21   Pounds Shillings and Pence - sherlock47

£5 per week for labouring in 1968 seems a little low? Was that because you were being exploited as child labour? As a summer job in a factory, effectively unskilled labouring, in 1964/5 IIRC I was paid £8 pw. And to put down another marker, graduate engineering starting salaries in 1969 were in the range of £1100-1200 pa. Inflation in the early 70s meant that salary seemed to increase significantly every month! Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 07:30   Pounds Shillings and Pence - tyrednemotional

...not sure I can educate you as to why, but the use of "shillings", rather than "pounds" or "pounds and shillings" was historically pretty widespread. I distinctly remember this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shilling_Tailors ...though mainly in its time as John Collier. (the original name "stuck" for many years after the change). Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 07:53   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Dog

>> the use of "shillings", rather than "pounds" or "pounds and shillings" was historically pretty widespread Maybe it was for the same reason goods these days are priced at £9.99 £99.99 etc = to fool Joe Public? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 10:19   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Runfer D'Hills

182’ a gallon round here for diesel last night. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 11:35   Pounds Shillings and Pence - neiltoo

Pounds or shillings? 8o) per Litre shirley? 8o) Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 11:40   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Manatee

>> Pounds or shillings? >> >> 8o) >> >> per Litre shirley? >> >> 8o) He's about right with shillings. 182/- =£9.10 per gallon, *0.22 = £2.00 per litre. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 10:59   Pounds Shillings and Pence - henry k

>> >> the use of "shillings", rather than "pounds" or "pounds and shillings" was historically pretty widespread >> >> Maybe it was for the same reason goods these days are priced at £9.99 £99.99 etc = to fool Joe Public? >> IIRC it was also so that the till had to be used to extract the penny change and the customer stayed to get the change and watched the sale " rung up". All to avoid the till person pocketing the cash. A lot less need today with card payments. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 13:30   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Dog

>>the till had to be used to extract the penny change and the customer stayed to get the change and watched the sale " rung up". All to avoid the till person pocketing the cash Yup, that makes sense I suppose. What I'm getting at is the fact that everything is priced at say £3.99 £99.99 £200,990 etc. etc. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 21:52   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Terry

I had a part time job in a menswear shop in ~1970. A not uncommon fraud on the part of some sales staff at sales time was to sell items priced at £xx.99, take the proffered £xx.00, walk out of sight towards the till, pocket the proffered, take the 1p change from a pocket, and give the customer their change. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 2 Jul 22 22:43   Pounds Shillings and Pence - bathtub tom

>> I had a part time job in a menswear shop in ~1970. >> >> A not uncommon fraud on the part of some sales staff at sales time was >> to sell items priced at £xx.99, take the proffered £xx.00, walk out of sight towards >> the till, pocket the proffered, take the 1p change from a pocket, and give the >> customer their change. So how does that profit the fiddler? I once worked in a shop and tried the practice of putting the customer's note on the till keys, to remind me of what they'd given (£1, £5, £10, or£20) so I could give them the correct change. Accused of a fiddle! Last edited by: bathtub tom on Sat 2 Jul 22 at 22:45 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 15:22   Pounds Shillings and Pence - zippy

I visited a gold chain manufacturer in Birmingham with a view to lending them money. Taken to the board room by a PA. Waited for the MD and the first thing, before any introductions from him was an insistence on the right to search me and a threat of prosecution were I to steal from them! I got up and left right away. Last edited by: zippy on Sun 3 Jul 22 at 15:23 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 15:26   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Zero

Good Job you have never been positively vetted or worked in certain gov sites Zipsters. I remember being searched by an armed US marine Gunnery Sargeant in his full dress blues once. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 15:36   Pounds Shillings and Pence - zippy

>> Good Job you have never been positively vetted or worked in certain gov sites Zipsters. >> I have signed the Official Secrets Act 4 times. I have been on business to Daws Hill, Chicksands, Lakenheath and Mildenhall. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 15:46   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Zero

I think you'll find the act prohibits you from saying where you have been........ Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 15:53   Pounds Shillings and Pence - sooty123

I have signed the Official Secrets Act 4 times. >> > I wonder if that particular bit of theatre actually achieves anything. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 15:58   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Manatee

Even the lowest grade of civil servants sign it don't they? It weighed on me as an 18 year old and from what little I remember it was rather draconian. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 16:19   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Bromptonaut

>> Even the lowest grade of civil servants sign it don't they? It weighed on me >> as an 18 year old and from what little I remember it was rather draconian. My recollection is that what I signed was a statement that I understood the act's terms and their effect. I don't think there were any additional restrictions placed on me by the act of signing. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 15:59   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Zero

It doesent, The Cambridge 5 didnt take any notice of it. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 17:00   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Duncan

>> I remember being searched by an armed US marine Gunnery Sargeant in his full dress >> blues once. Good - was it? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 17:02   Pounds Shillings and Pence - Zero

His white gloves were quite soft. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 17:57   Pounds Shillings and Pence - bathtub tom

Isn't there something about taking you out, gagged and bound, in a rowing boat and pulling the bung, or have I got it wrong? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 18:12   Pounds Shillings and Pence - sooty123

I think that's extra. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 18:15   Pounds Shillings and Pence - neiltoo

Isn't that the Masons? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 18:17   Pounds Shillings and Pence - tyrednemotional

..WI, actually... Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 3 Jul 22 19:07   Pounds Shillings and Pence - sooty123

>> ..WI, actually... >> Gitmo Branch? Reply to this message | Report message