A reminder of days gone by.

Silver Jubilee Crown
@Asylum (47893)
Manchester, England
May 4, 2016 9:15am CST
While clearing out the storage area where I keep bed quilts and pillows etcetera, I came across a crown that I acquired back in 1977. This is something that I had completely forgotten about, but the find certainly reminded me. A crown was Five shillings during our pre decimal days of currency. This denomination had been scarce for many years, but was often used to issue commemorative pieces. Even after we adopted the decimal system in 1971, the crown remained although now with a face value of 25 pence. This particular coin was issued in 1977 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. It was legal tender and issued through the banks, so I drew £10 out of my bank account and requested Jubilee Crowns. This gave me 40 of those coins, which I had great fun spending over the following few weeks because very few people expected them to be circulating. I recall being quite surprised that nobody objected to accepting them.
20 people like this
19 responses
@celticeagle (189820)
• Boise, Idaho
4 May 16
That's interesting. Now you have another one. Or did you save just one?
2 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
I just have the one, although I never really intended to keep any and was surprised to come acryit.
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@celticeagle (189820)
• Boise, Idaho
4 May 16
@Asylum ....well, ya got one if you need it I guess.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
@celticeagle It is not something that I particularly need, but was interesting to come across.
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• United States
4 May 16
Never know what you're going to come across when you sort through things. Interesting coin and is it worth anything?
2 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
It will not be worth a great deal, but is an interesting memory of those days 40 years ago.
@marlina (154103)
• Canada
4 May 16
Once while cleaning a drawer I found 2 new bills of $50.00 Canadian paper money. I can't even remember putting them there.
@Marcyaz (35316)
• United States
4 May 16
Isn't it interesting how we can find things when we clean an area. I know I have found things also, one time I found $25 in an old wallet I had put up. It was a good find. lol
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
This reminds me of an occasion many moons ago. I had a pair of trousers that I rarely wore and put them on one day to discover a large was of banknotes in the pocket. It felt like several hundred pounds, but turned out to be pesetas.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
@Marcyaz It was still a good find and came to around £45, but much less than it originally seemed.
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@Marcyaz (35316)
• United States
4 May 16
@Asylum You never know if it will be good or not so good what you find. You
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@rebelann (117216)
• El Paso, Texas
5 May 16
Some of the books I've read in the past have mentioned crowns but I've never actually seen one nor do I have a clue just what the face value would be. Come to think of it I haven't a clue what a pence or shilling is either but many of the novels I've read would mention those denominations.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
5 May 16
We had 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to a pound. A crown was 5 shillings, which was equal to a quarter of a pound.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
5 May 16
@rebelann A British pound is about $1-45, so a crown is about 37 cents. Of course these were common coinage back in the Victorian era, so that was a lot of money then.
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@rebelann (117216)
• El Paso, Texas
5 May 16
Ok, that almost makes sense @Asylum trouble is I do better with dollars, quarters, dimes n nickles .... oh yeah, pennies too. I know a pound is more than a dollar so that's where it stumps me.
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@LadyDuck (502343)
• Italy
4 May 16
When the first Euro coins were issued, we lived in Monte-Carlo, they issued special coins with Prince Rainieri on one face. The residents had the right to ask to the post office one envelope with the equivalent of 10 Euros in coins. I made the big mistake to spend them all... I have no one Monte-Carlo euro coin left.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
O would imagine that a large number of those are currently in the hands of dealers.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
@LadyDuck Tourists would have removed a vast amount from circulation.
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@LadyDuck (502343)
• Italy
4 May 16
@Asylum I suppose, I thought to ask more to my bank, but there was such a big request from the tourists that there were no more available. Silly me.
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• United States
4 May 16
Money is historically interesting. I find the whole concept a little like science fiction. Most money is worthless in reality. A coin may make a handy screwdriver, or level out a chair, but not much else.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
Coins lost intrinsic value once we came off the Gold standard and banknotes now are simply promises of money.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
@ElizabethWallace This same argument applies to diamonds and several other "precious" items. Their value is based purely on demand, whereas their usefulness is less impressive. A kilo of gold or a 2 carat diamond would be pointless if others did not offer great wealth to buy them.
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• United States
4 May 16
@Asylum Yes, but even gold has little real "value". It's great for jewelry and cups, or other decorations, but not as useful as some other metals.
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@kaka135 (14994)
• Malaysia
4 May 16
It's so nice that you still keep it and found it too! When I was young, I always wondered why my parents didn't keep some of the coins or banknotes they were using in those old days, those coins are really precious (not for money, but for memory).
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 May 16
@kaka135 People often overlook such things because those coins are commonplace at the moment.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
I was used some coins which are scarce now, but back in those days they were commonplace.
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@kaka135 (14994)
• Malaysia
6 May 16
@Asylum Yes, I guess perhaps that's why people didn't think of keeping some for the future or for memory. I started to collect some coins we are using nowadays, as I think my children or grandchildren might be interested, if they are like me.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (153544)
• India
6 May 16
My Europe tour was before the Euro was introduced. We toured 7 countries and I have loose coins belonging to all these countries.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 May 16
Yes, I have used many European currencies that are no longer in use.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 May 16
@allknowing That was,due to the autocomplete changing the word I was typing. It has now been edited.
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@allknowing (153544)
• India
6 May 16
@Asylum I can't quite get you.
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@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
5 May 16
I wonder if it has increased in value? I am curious about it current value.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
5 May 16
It will not be very valuable, but they are collected.
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@PatZAnthony (14749)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
4 May 16
It sounds like something fun to do.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
It was very amusing when I was spending those.
@jaboUK (64346)
• United Kingdom
6 May 16
I bought one each of those for my children, and they still have them. I don't suppose they are worth any more now than they were then.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 May 16
I agree with you entirely, but it did resurrect a few memories.
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@JESSY3236 (22247)
• United States
6 May 16
That's cool. Too bad you didn't save them. Would they be worth something years down the road?
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 May 16
Unlikely because many people will have one somewhere.
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@CRK109 (14556)
• United States
4 May 16
What a great find! And such nice memories associated with it! :)
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
It made me think back a very long time.
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@miniam (9151)
• Bern, Switzerland
5 May 16
If the coin was mine, i`d go to the bank and check what it`s worth, you never know it might have gone up in value
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
5 May 16
A bank would only accept it at face value, but it would attain a slightly better price from a dealer.
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@miniam (9151)
• Bern, Switzerland
5 May 16
@Asylum Time to go look for a dealer then
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@SIMPLYD (90717)
• Philippines
6 May 16
It's good that it is still in circulation .
@silvermist (19701)
• India
4 May 16
@Asylum Here if a coin is not in circulation for some time,people hesitate to accept it when we try to spend it .
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
This would not be acceptable now, but would be worth more than the face value if I sold it. Of course at a mere 25 pence the money is not a concern.
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@amadeo (111937)
• United States
4 May 16
Interesting coin there.
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
I must have been one of the very few people who actually spent any of these back in those days.
@garymarsh6 (23998)
• United Kingdom
4 May 16
OH my word. I can not believe you spent them. My father brought us every commemorative crown going!
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
It was amusing seeing the look on some shopkeeper's faces because nobody else used them as coins.
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@Lucky15 (37391)
• Philippines
4 May 16
I keep commemorative coins...but when i have run out of coins in payig stuff...if will be gone
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@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
4 May 16
These were never really intended to be circulated but since they were legal tender I acquired them from the bank and went around spending them.
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