Personal Memories Of D-Day (1971)

I vividly remember decimalisation day - I gave up my school lunch break to work in the tuck shop most days. My pay for this task had always been 6D, but on D-Day I persuaded Brother Jerome to let me have 3 1/2 new pence so I could have one each of the new coins!

The last circulation halfpenny was 1967. There is a 1970 halfpenny, which was issued on the "Last of the £SD set", in the early 70s. There are no later halfpennies of the old style after 1970.
The new Half penny, usually called a "Half P" in the UK, was issued from 1971 to 1984. Only the last year is scarce as it was again set-only. These are tiny scraps of bronze.

Nickels_rule - I assume you know already that there are no British halfpennies dated 1961!

PaddyB - well done to get a full set of the new bronze coins on D-Day!

No...I did not know there were no 1961 British halfpennies........that would explain why I can't find one though eh? Looks like my Whitman 9680 folder is complete...thanks for the info!

Brings back a few memories for me.
I was working in the UK for a couple of years at the time of the decimal changeover.
A bit like a second time around for me at the time - Australia went through a similar decimal changeover in 1966.

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I do have one very interesting 1967 Penny from this time.
It is fully struck up but thin - only 2/3 rds of the normal weight.

It was to me explained to me by a specialist UK coin dealer many years later,
that it is a deliberate error made in protest by Mint employees, when the minting facilities were moved from London to Llanstrssant in Wales at the time of the decimal changeover. Deliberate gross error coins were then thrown by the handful over the exterior wall of the Mint to passers by in the streets outside, thus escaping detection and avoiding prosecution.

The reason for the protest is that a large number (probably most) of the Mint employees did not wish to move out of London to Wales.

I remember the change, too, but from this side of the pond. When I went to the UK in 1973 I remembering asking a local about the new coinage since I did not quite know what to do with a pocketful of new and old currency. A local lady told me not to worry, "We don't know what to do either!"

Stay well,
Diy89Nurm7

I recall being on a course with IBM in 1990, so 19 years after decimalisation. There was a German gentleman in the queue for the coffee machine in front of me, cursing and swearing at the machine for not accepting his money. When I stepped in to help I found he had a handful of pre-decimalisation coins that he had saved from his last visit to the UK!
Of course I exchanged them for new money at a fair rate. Sadly nothing exciting in his batch, but a memorable experience.

@ PaddyB: I am a bit sad that your exchange pocket change didn't yield anything of special numismatic significance,
but hey, - that's life. You get to remember some things for a long time.

Decimal changeover day UK 15th Feb 1971,
Decimal changeover day Oz 14th Feb 1966.
Easy for me to remember - 5 years plus one day.