Our 16 year-old grandson is about to be treated to his first European adventure. We have sorted through foreign coins to give him euros. They are flying to/through London so I've cleaned out old British coins, dated 1980 and before. A few are quite old, one dated 1955. Most are probably from the 1970s. Are they still spendable?
P. S. What the heck do we do with francs? Give them to our French friends as mementos? 😂😂
No. Coins are useless after they’ve been replaced and the transition period is over. Paper currency retains its value and can be exchanged for the current bills at the Bank of England in London. The Francs are useless too. Give them to somebody who collects coins.
Current British coins are:
One penny (1p; £0.01), 1971–present.
Two pence (2p; £0.02), 1971–present.
Five pence (5p; £0.05), 1990–present.
Ten pence (10p; £0.10), 1992–present.
Twenty pence (20p; £0.20), 1982–present.
Fifty pence (50p; £0.50), 1997–present
One pound (£1.00), 2017–present
Two pounds (£2.00), 1997–present
Versions with earlier dates e.g. a 5p coin dated before 1990 is not valid. If all you have are dated pre 1980 then the only valid coins are 1p and 2p.
https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/
What’s the coin from 1955? That’s pre-decimalisation (1971). Fingers crossed it’s a gold sovereign 😉
Unlike in the US, England and most other countries replace their money with never versions from time to time. Once the new money comes out, the old money is no longer spendable and must be exchanged for the newer items.
Lloyds will exchange old coins, back to 1947 issue, in £1 increments (good luck in computing what equals a Pound in pre-decimalized amounts. I never could get the whole pence shilling pound stuff right ;-) ).
You may want to have a coin dealer look at them first to see what they will offer. In some cases, the raw metal is worth more than the face value of the coins and a coin dealer may pay that.
No idea about Francs.
As for the French francs, they cannot be exchanged anymore (by any kind of public authority or bank at least). Coins were exchangeable up until 2005, bills until 2012 -- the French state "made" €550 million in 2012 since that was the estimated amount of un-exchanged francs still out there!
This discussion is taking me back to my year in London as a young coin collector, 1971-72. An odd mix of old system and new decimal coins were in circulation:
decimal half penny (long gone), decimal penny, decimal 2p, old sixpence (worth 2 1/2 new pence), decimal 5p, old shilling (worth 5p), decimal 10p, old florin (two shillings) worth 10p, decimal 50 p.
Anything bigger than 50 p was paper money (but as a 9 year old, in an economy where a Cadbury bar cost 5p, I didn't see paper money very often -- a pound was a lot of money then).
The decimal 2 p, 5 p and 10 p were much bigger than their modern versions. The other predecimal coins (half penny, penny, 3d, and half crown (2 shillings 6 pence)) that had circulated in the 1960s had been demonetized already.
The big prize was finding an old real silver sixpence, shilling or florin; that is, before 1947. They were not common but they did turn up in your change occasionally, going back to George V -- oldest I remember getting was a 1915 shilling. The base metal sixpence, shilling and florin coins dated 1947-1968 were still more common than their new decimal equivalents.
Thanks, all, for replying to my query so quickly. We've gotten old (and wise?) enough to know saving these souvenirs was/is silly. We still come home with left over coins but only because it isn't worth the trouble of exchanging them before leaving whatever country. I liked the suggestion to contact a coin dealer. One of these days . . . . I'll have to look more closely at that 1955 coin. Doubtful it's gold, but you never know.
The next time we visit Paris, I will give the francs to our friends' children. Worthless except for the memento value. 🇫🇷
I still bring home sample coins from each country I visit--or in the case of euros, from any country whose coins cross my path. Extras go to young folks who might be interested. Most will outgrow their interest (unlike me).
I decorate my magnetic travel board with souvenir coins with a small magnet attached.
Keep them. I was lucky enough to get my dad’s stash of foreign currency including £1 notes and shilling coins.
Not spendable, but a cool thing to have.
All British money is worth at least what its denomination is. People with UK bank accounts can deal with this easily by paying the money in, subject to any specific demands of their bank. People without are fairly OK with banknotes providing they can take them back to the issuer (Bank of England or any of those in Scotland and Northern Ireland as appropriate), Coins are a problem as the Royal Mint doesn't deal with individuals only institutions.
Reminder than a new design of £20 note is to be issued by the BoE on 20/02/2020 although the period for the existing notes has not been announced.
If leftover coins are just extra weight to you, then put them in one of the donation boxes you will see in many airports.
