Remember when the 20p coin arrived ?

yellum

I just got talking to a friend about old money (not very old) and loads of memories about the first time the 20p coin hit the nations tills. It ws so damned cool and amazing to see a gold coloured coin. The coins were so bright and rich looking and the horse was a lovely new edition to the group of coins.

I remember getting my first few 20p coins in change and not wanting to spend them but keep them for ages. Ah fond memories of them.

Anyone else remember the first few days of the new coins back in the day of the punt ?

BrianD3

I still have my first 20p coin. Got it on on the first day they became legal tender in 1986. I don't have fond memories of the 20p though - always thought the "gold" colour was a bit cheap looking and it would lose its brightness very quickly unlike "silver" coins which would retain most of their brightness for years. BTW the horse had been used before on an Irish coin - half crown I think it was. Long before my time anyway

BrianD3

irlhost

Yep I remember the first 20p I got. :rolleyes:

Where has all that time gone.

Paddy20

The Half Crown, now when I was a boy and a relation visiting the house gave you a 'Half Crown' which was a 'large' round heavy silver coin with a "Horse on it". Well it made you feel great. It was quite heavy, as if to represent its real worth, over the mere pennies, threepenny pieces, sixpence coins, and shillings.

The nostalgia, before decimilisation was ever thought about. I had a red tin post box where I saved my coins. It could not be opened, but you could get a coin out with the help of a knife and a bit of a balancing act combined with a lot of patience.

I wonder if I could get a set of the old Irish money, including the wonderful Notes ?..

P.:ninja: [Yep, I sure am getting old, and it's great]

BrianD3

just dug out some of my old coins. The ones I have are:
-farthing (woodcock)
-halfpenny (pig)
-penny (hen)
-3 pence (rabbit)
-6 pence (wolfhound)
-shilling (bull)
-florin (salmon)
-half crown (horse)

Also have a 10 pound note and a 1 pound note here somewhere.

BrianD3

byte

Ah the memories! I also remember the first 20p. I had kept it for ages until one day I was skint, and spent it! :rolleyes:

Also remember when they released smaller 10p and 5p pieces. Lots of people whinging that it so small. And look at us now, jusing even smaller coins, all of which are circular (no 7 sided coins like the 50p)

oneweb

Now I don't remember my first... but I do remember the era of the new coin and the niceness of it etc etc.

sceptre

Originally posted by Paddy20
I wonder if I could get a set of the old Irish money, including the wonderful Notes ?..

Ah you can get them - I've seen them on sale in a few places. More the notes than the coins but the coins are gettable in sets as well. All the notes are still legal tender.

I have all the coins except for the sixpence. I've a jar somewhere with quite a few old UK coins as well - in some ways they're more fun as they changed so often. The tiny silver 3p that was around between about 1939 and 1943ish was a lovely little thing. The Irish coins are quite classy though (far nicer than the rather bland but modern post-decimalisation half penny to 2p).

I presume quite a few of the (relatively) younger types like me remember the half penny being phased out? 1984 if I remember rightly (the quite ugly UK half penny (the decimal one - the old UK one with the Golden Hind on was quite pretty) was dumped in 82 or 83)

yellum

Sceptre I have some 6p coins if you want one.

Stark

The old irish coinage was so much nicer than euro coinage.
Yeah remember when the 20p came out, was about 4 at a time, was well impressed with the novelty of having the horse (an animal I could recognise straight off) on the coin. Plus the first 20p coins were so shiny and golden, pity it only lasted about 2 days though.

ShaneOC

I remember going into the bank on the day they were issued. They were giving one free to every customer. I went back in later with a pound note and asked for 5 new 20p coins and they gave me another free one.

DMC

Charlie McCreevy take note!

Ebonyks

A guy in Georges St Arcade has a stall for a long time now (i'm sure he's still there) and has a good collection of all the old coins and notes.

just my 2 cents ....or should i say cent

ShaneOC

A sort of precursor for the SSIA.

BrianD3

The old irish coinage was so much nicer than euro coinage.

Yeah, the euro coins feel cheap and nasty and also look bland and anonymous. Whereas the Irish coins with the animals had a lot of character and were distinctive. Like most people above a certain age in this country, I have an image of all the old Irish coins (both decimal and pre-decimal) burned into my brain

All the notes are still legal tender

I thought Irish notes ceased to be legal tender a few months after the euro came in (although they could be/can be still changed in a bank) I do know that the old Irish notes (that's the ones from the 1920's-1970's and 1970's-1990's) are definitely not legal tender - they ceased to be legal tender several years back - before the euro

BrianD3

sceptre

Originally posted by BrianD3
I thought Irish notes ceased to be legal tender a few months after the euro came in (although they could be/can be still changed in a bank) I do know that the old Irish notes (that's the ones from the 1920's-1970's and 1970's-1990's) are definitely not legal tender - they ceased to be legal tender several years back - before the euro

Oops, you're right Brian. What I meant was that the Central Bank will happily give you EUR25.40 for your old 20 pound note regardless of how old it is, not just the newer ones (as opposed to some of the UK notes). Put quite badly by me:)
http://www.centralbank.ie/ncn_exch.asp

This might be of some interest to the people just younger than me (I very barely remember these notes). Beautiful notes to be honest. Other banknote pictures available from the links on the left.

Might take you up on that offer at some point Damien - thanks!

BrianD3

This might be of some interest to the people just younger than me (I very barely remember these notes). Beautiful notes to be honest

Beautiful notes is right. And it's amazing that these notes were produced for around 50 years. I wonder is that some sort of record for banknotes?

I have the £1 and £10 from the A series, and all the notes from the B series. Striking thing about the A series notes is how huge they are compared to euro notes. The 20, 50 and 100 are 114 X 203 mm - that's an enormous note by modern standards.

I didn't know there was a £100 note in the A series before you gave the link. Imagine having a £100 note in 1928 - a lot of money back then!

BrianD3

oneweb

Macari's take-away in Blanchardstown village have a framed set of olde Irish notes. They are indeed huge compared to the size we've got nowadays!

Paddy20

sceptre,

Nice link to the Central Bank, there. Very useful. Think I will see how the old notes look printed out and framed.

Thanks.

P.:ninja:

Stark

Can't quite remember the A series. anyone got pics?

Dustaz

Originally posted by Ebonyks

just my 2 cents ....or should i say cent

Shhh, Yoda will come in and execute you for acquiesing to RTEs murder of 'accepted local varients'

Pinkchick03

#I agree that the new coins are awful! Bring back the old notes and coins at least they don't fall apart as easy as the new notes - ie the five euro note. the money is just a disaster and don't start me on the value of the money, its just beyond a joke

ShaneOC

Originally posted by Pinkchick03
#I agree that the new coins are awful! Bring back the old notes and coins at least they don't fall apart as easy as the new notes - ie the five euro note. the money is just a disaster and don't start me on the value of the money, its just beyond a joke

The euro notes are no better or worse than the old Irish notes. Both of the fivers are useless and seem to last no time at all. I cannot understand why the didn't copy the Australians who have a plastic coating on all of their notes. This makes them very resiliant and it is close to impossible to rip them accidentally (or on purpose for that matter).

Stark

Don't think the fivers were particularly weaker than the other notes, it's just that any time you go into a bank or ATM you're pretty much guaranteed fresh tenners, twenties etc. whereas banks always used to give you crappy torn fivers.

byte

Due to the euro fiver being worth less than the Punt fiver, it probably gets handled a lot more. Probably should be replaced with a coin (hopefully not round, as there are too many round euro coins, hard to differentiate)

yellum

Notes last 11 months in circulation isn't it, compared to a good few years for coins ?

kelle

Christ above, I remember when the 20p coin came out, it was in 1986 - I was 16 then. I remember it was easily mixed up with the 2p coin - so you'd really examine your change. I actually found a load of them in the attic today (coincidence then to find this subject on Boards a few hours later). The coins were so big it's a wonder we were able to carry our wallets. But money was money then - the Euro is like Monopoly money. Give us back our old coins. Wonder if I should auction off the 20 or so 20p coins I found? Only joking!

kelle

Actually, Byte, if a E5 coin was introduced, the price of goods would go through the roof as it would be seriously devalued. In fact, Ityaly are trying to get E1 notes to keep prices down.

sceptre

Originally posted by yellum
Notes last 11 months in circulation isn't it, compared to a good few years for coins ?

I remember that when the pound coins came out they estimated them to have a lifespan of 40 years on average (obviously we've dumped them before then). The humble fiver had an average lifespan of about 5 months before the euro came in.

On the subject of size (ooh er missus), anyone remember the old French 10 franc coins. Not the more recent two tone ones - the massive ones they had for years after the franc was reevaluated (as opposed to devalued - the 10 franc coin became the 10 centime coin in the 60s). They were almost the size of the old British crowns (a weighty mother if ever I saw one - we had a 1965 Churchill one at home)

byte

Originally posted by kelle
Actually, Byte, if a E5 coin was introduced, the price of goods would go through the roof as it would be seriously devalued. In fact, Ityaly are trying to get E1 notes to keep prices down.

Hmm, prices of goods are through the roof already! :eek: Mind you, I don't want prices much higher!

TomTom

I don't remember it arriving but i used to love the 20p and the 50p also. Its that old memories feeling when you find them now.