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VK5QX > COINS 18.01.04 15:18l 161 Lines 6039 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 2A0789VK5QX
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: Old Aussie v British coins.
Path: DB0FHN<DB0FOR<DB0MRW<DB0ERF<DB0FBB<DB0GOS<ON0AR<ON0AR<ZL2TZE<VK5UJ<
VK5BRC<VK5SPG<VK5LZ
Sent: 040118/0409Z @:VK5LZ.#ADL.#SA.AUS.OC #:11797 [Elizabeth] $:2A0789VK5QX
From: VK5QX@VK5LZ.#ADL.#SA.AUS.OC
To : COINS@WW
NO "HALF CROWNS"
Well, Ian G0TEZ has it pretty well right in his bulletin when he explains
what he would rather have seen than the way the U.K. went about making
their change to decimalisation.
I quote;
__________
" Like a lot of other people I would have like d to have seen decimal
currency based on the 10/- note as the Aussie and New Zealanders had
already done. "
" 15th Feb 1971 was a long time ago so my memory could be playing tricks
by
now. Can anyone from 'down under' tell me if there was a half crown coin
that became 25c? It seems sensible to me. "
__________
Our changeover took place in the 1960's.
We had been dealing in "Pounds", "Shillings" and "Pence" in the same way
as the U.K.
When our currency change was made we went straight to the system of
dollars and cents and did not mess around with the seeming complicated
method of "new" and "old" pence as did the British.
Your assumptions, in general, are quite right Ian. We never did have any
"Half Crown" coin to replace.
Our half-penny disappeared altogether with no equivalent.
We then had a basic "dollar" amount with 100 "cents" in the dollar.
Our coins became;
One Cent. Two Cents. 5 Cents. 10 Cents. 20 Cents. 50 Cents.
We have never had a 25 cent coin. (Whereas the USA does have a 25 cent
value coin that they call a "Quarter".)
Later, as that demon inflation overran us, we dropped both the 1 Cent and
2 Cent coins.
I believe that I have previously explained some other aspects of the
changeover and subsequent events, including the now standard approach of
allowing a "mark-up" or "mark-down" to the nearest 5 cent amount as a
result of removal of the one and two cent pieces from our coinage system.
The 50 Cent coin I have already described as having originally been of a
round shape but later changed to a multi-sided shape.
__________
One item of trivia exists regarding the 50 Cent coin.
When Christmas arrives there are many different light displays at various
homes and properties around Adelaide. There is one nearby Adelaide hills
country town that is famous for the fact that almost every house carries a
light display.
(I had around 4,000 lights at my home this year and have been erecting
Christmas light displays for something like 20 years. All the local kids
just love it.)
In recent years The electricity authorities, together with other groups,
run competitions for the best displays, with some people spending probably
thousands of dollars on their displays.
(I do not enter such competitions for a number of reasons. You can
probably guess at least one reason.)
So, what on earth has this to do with the subject of coinage?
(Boy! This guy can certainly get off the track, can't he?)
There was one property that won the competition several years in
succession and then dropped out only this last year.
It was located on a large property with a long driveway to the house which
was nestled in a hollow. The driveway would be at least something like 200
metres in length.
The land fell away on one side of the driveway which was outlined on each
side with strings of lights.
The owners allowed people to walk the length of the driveway to a vantage
point looking down on the house below, which was almost completely covered
in light strings of various colours and styles. These lights switched on
and off in varied sequences.
On both sides of the driveway you passed many different kinds of displays
with quite a number of these being moving displays.
There were bears, rabbits, leaping fish and fisherman, a couple advancing
towards each other and kissing under the mistletoe. Flowers and trees were
depicted together with quite a number of other scenes too numerous to
describe in this bulletin.
Looking down at one end of the house you could view a beautiful Nativity
scene, complete with baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, sheep, cattle, camels,
shepherds, wise-men etc., with a large angel hovering overhead.
Across from the house at the far left of the driveway, and on a hill, was
Santa driving his sleigh and reindeer up into the sky. That part of the
display would have been something like 30 metres long.
Large trees around the property were also illuminated with tasteful
subdued lighting.
Crowds of people came to see this display and one often had a very long
walk in the dark, up the road lined with parked cars, so as to be able to
see this attraction.
As with many places of public interest there soon was a "hot-dog" and an
"ice-cream" stand established near the property entrance.
And now to the "money" part featuring the "50 cent" coin.
The owners of the property obviously incurred quite some cost with the
operation of this marvellous display, however, no entrance fee was
charged.
Instead, they had a "Wishing Well" and encouraged people to drop coins
onto this well, with all the proceeds going to a children's charity.
The "well" was designed with an inverted cone shaped container with a coin
chute placed above the container. The chute formed a spiral as it went
down into the mouth of the container below.
When a coin was dropped into the chute it took a up a very fast rolling
motion and then you could watch it travel around and around the inside of
the mouth of the container gradually going lower and disappearing into the
hole at the bottom.
The most spectacular effect was when someone dropped one of the "flat
sided" 50 cent pieces into this contraption.
Instead of the smooth "whirrring" noise made by the round coins as they
ran at fairly high speed around the sloping walls of the container the 50
cent pieces produced a loud "BRRMM! BRRMP! BRRMM! BRRMP!" noise as they
travelled. You could pick such an event from quite some distance away.
I can tell you, from my own experience, that such an effect certainly
encouraged people to use more 50 cent coins than those of other lower
denominations.
Regards,
Ian
__________
73 de Ian, VK5QX
@ VK5LZ.#ADL.#SA.AUS.OC
18 January 2004
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