35 Years Of Decimal Coins

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35 Years Of Decimal Currency
Market Comment
[ February 8, 2006 ]
By David Kuo

It's hard to believe, but it's been nearly 35 years since the British Government launched the decimal currency. Yes, D-Day, or Decimalisation Day, took place on 15 February 1971. On that day Britain waved goodbye to 12 pennies to the shilling and said hello to 100p to the pound.

At the time, there was considerable debate over how the transition should be executed to cause the least amount of confusion. One obvious problem concerned the lowest acceptable unit of currency, namely the new 1p. After all, 1p was equivalent to 2.4 old pennies, and simply assuming 1 old penny or 1d was equivalent to 1 new pence could have been inflationary. Consequently, a new half-pence, which was roughly equal to 1d, was introduced.