j.c.d. wrote:The other day I was posting and touched on the subject of pre. decimal coinage and the fact that there were 240 copper penny's to £1. there fore carrying any amounts of this coin was a strain on ones pocket / purse. people always tried to get rid and just carry three penny bits or Tanners (sixpence). Folks used to have gas meters that took coins so my Ma always kept a few extra penny's on top of the meter in case we ran out and we were cut off of the gas plus the meter was always topped up and there would be money to come back after the reading When I off School and the meter man was due my Mother would always say Don't let him give you all penny's, tell him I said to give us sixpences"
The gas man was always the same one, a local fellow who had played for Hunslet, a big bugger who when I told him about the change to come back he would just laugh and cuff me at the back of my head. he would then leave 15 or 20 copper pennies stacked up and when my Ma got home I was in trouble again. In later years when I was in my twenty's I used to go in the same club for a drink and if I mentioned it I would get another head slap.
The reason I mention him is because his name was Arthur (Ginger) Thomas and I decided to Google and see if I could find out anything about the old lad. It seems he not only played for Hunslet but also Yorkshire and Great Britain . If there are any Rugby league fans out there it is well worth a look. Just as Important even if you are not a Rugby fan is the amount of Info. / pictures and old adverts.. Vey interesting in my opinion.
Do you remember how he expertly placed the coins on their side and rolled them in a piece of paper (days before plastic coin bags, and made a tidy secure little package to put in his bag? Used to try to do this with variable degrees of success - they must have found a fortune in remote corners and crevices when they pulled Mum's old house down!
I had completely forgotten the gas man's knack of wrapping up the coins in paper, must have been In 12s I suppose, it was mentioned earlier how it was a man only collection, no wonder what with the weight of the money.
The only knickname I recall hearing some time ago for the pound coin was a
Scouse comic who called it a Maggie(Thatcher)
It's hard,it's brassy and thinks it's a sovereign !
Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.90% of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at.
j.c.d. wrote:The other day I was posting and touched on the subject of pre. decimal coinage and the fact that there were 240 copper penny's to £1. there fore carrying any amounts of this coin was a strain on ones pocket / purse. people always tried to get rid and just carry three penny bits or Tanners (sixpence). Folks used to have gas meters that took coins so my Ma always kept a few extra penny's on top of the meter in case we ran out and we were cut off of the gas plus the meter was always topped up and there would be money to come back after the reading When I off School and the meter man was due my Mother would always say Don't let him give you all penny's, tell him I said to give us sixpences"
The gas man was always the same one, a local fellow who had played for Hunslet, a big bugger who when I told him about the change to come back he would just laugh and cuff me at the back of my head. he would then leave 15 or 20 copper pennies stacked up and when my Ma got home I was in trouble again. In later years when I was in my twenty's I used to go in the same club for a drink and if I mentioned it I would get another head slap.
The reason I mention him is because his name was Arthur (Ginger) Thomas and I decided to Google and see if I could find out anything about the old lad. It seems he not only played for Hunslet but also Yorkshire and Great Britain . If there are any Rugby league fans out there it is well worth a look. Just as Important even if you are not a Rugby fan is the amount of Info. / pictures and old adverts.. Vey interesting in my opinion.
Do you remember how he expertly placed the coins on their side and rolled them in a piece of paper (days before plastic coin bags, and made a tidy secure little package to put in his bag? Used to try to do this with variable degrees of success - they must have found a fortune in remote corners and crevices when they pulled Mum's old house down!
I had completely forgotten the gas man's knack of wrapping up the coins in paper, must have been In 12s I suppose, it was mentioned earlier how it was a man only collection, no wonder what with the weight of the money.
Shillings were in £1 and pennies I think 3/- or 10/-
Don't really think the Gas Man could have wrapped more than about 12 coins in brown paper as he had to roll them up and then he stood the pack on end and tapped it on the table to seal it, quite a neat trick but many more coins in a line would have been difficult to handle. maybe someone else can remember....
Honestly j.c.d. on Leeds City Transport at one time conductors had to make paper rolls of, I'm almost sure, five shillings worth of copper - e.g. sixty pennies. Many were adept at doing it on the moving vehicle and by tapping the ends smartly on the platform half bulkheads. I'm afraid I never mastered it all and on one memorable occasion when I decided to be brave and give it a go just as we were crossing Hyde Park junction on the way to the City - the paper "tube" opened up and all the coins shot down Woodhouse Street never to be seen again. So it cost me five shillings to finally realise that I just couldn't do it !!
There's nothing like keeping the past alive - it makes us relieved to reflect that any bad times have gone, and happy to relive all the joyful and fascinating experiences of our own and other folks' earlier days.
The only nickname I can recall being used for decimal coinage was 'Wilson washer' for a 50p coin but it was never that popular and disappeared as soon as Harold Wilson retired.
