Old and modern money of Great Britain and the USA. English money: history and interesting facts What money is in Great Britain

England is a state with its own independent currency. The pound sterling is considered the main currency of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, as well as Northern Ireland and Scotland. This money is in circulation in all lands annexed to England. The pound sterling has a very ancient history and is a stable currency on the world market.

The story of one pound

A pound sterling is equal to 100 pence. The name of the currency itself originated in the 12th century. At that time, the phrase “pound sterling” meant “a pound of pure silver” and was a monetary measure.

Historians have found that in 1300, silver pennies with stars engraved on them were called sterling..

In 1694, the English bank began to produce its own banknotes, and the name of the currency became quite official and generally accepted.

Since 1971, the British pound, to which sterling is added only in official documents, has been equated to the decimal monetary system.

Scotland and Ireland issue pounds with their own design, but equal in value to the British currency. Sometimes there are difficulties with paying with such money in England and Wales.

British denomination money

UK national banks issue money in the following equivalents:

• 5 pounds;
• 10 pounds;
• 20 pounds;
• And 50 pounds.

There are also 1 and 2 pound coins. There are 1, 2, 5 and 10 pence coins in circulation. When calculating, you can find pence in 20 and 50 monetary units.

Since 2016, the Bank of England has issued the first polymer banknotes. Money in the UK depicts significant landmarks, prominent political and cultural figures, people of science and, of course, the Queen.

Pounds sterling today

Despite the fact that England has not yet left the European Union, the euro is not in favor on its territory. One of the conditions for England's entry into the European Union was the provision of maintaining the circulation of its own currency.

Before World War II, pounds were the most sought after currency in the world. The post-war crisis in Britain shook their position. Today the pound sterling is in third place in the ranking of world currencies.

The exchange rate of British money is floating. It is the pound sterling that constitutes the reserve fund of the country's economy, so the economic situation in England is quite stable and inflation is relatively low.

Changing money in the UK is quite easy. It is enough to contact the state bank, which is open from 9 am to 3 pm. Exchangers at the airport and train stations also offer their services for currency conversion, but you need to pay attention to the exchange rate and commission.

The UK currency is a stable monetary equivalent. It occupies a significant place in the stock market and is popular among foreigners who choose banks for long-term investments.

The currency of England is pounds sterling, which is divided into 100 pence (singular penny). Bank symbol: GBP. Currently, pounds sterling is the world's reserve currency. This is facilitated by the stable UK economy. At the moment, sterling makes up a third of the world's foreign exchange reserves, despite being inferior to the euro and dollar. Within England itself, both paper notes and coins are in use. Let us remember that Great Britain is one of the few EU countries that refused to switch to the euro and kept its national currency. This is partly due to the fact that the pounds are stable, but on the other hand, the pride of the British people, who wished not to give up their national money, played a role.

The history of the appearance of the English currency

The history of this currency dates back to the time of King Offa of Mercia (East Anglia). He first introduced the silver penny, which became widespread among the Anglo-Saxon states. Subsequently, 1200 years ago, around 775, the first British silver coins appeared. They were minted from a pound of pure silver, which produced 240 coins - a pound sterling. Since then it has been the only national currency of England.

A little history

From the 8th to the 13th centuries, the penny was the most common coin in England. Even though smaller money existed, people preferred to cut it in half and quarters and use it for change. Very few pennies were minted in gold, and such a coin was considered very rare and was equal to twenty pieces of silver.

Over time, new coins of different denominations were introduced, and accordingly their names: crown, penny (farthing), sovereign and guinea. More and more gold coins began to be minted. At the same time, their value has noticeably decreased. Over time, copper, tin and metal coins were introduced. In 1660, coinage was transformed and forged coins began to be produced. In 1937, coins made of nickel brass were introduced, and in 1947, silver coins were replaced with cupronickel.

Over time, new coins of different denominations were introduced, and accordingly their names: crown, penny (farthing), sovereign and guinea. More and more gold coins began to be minted. At the same time, their value has noticeably decreased. Over time, copper, tin and metal coins were introduced. In 1660, coinage was transformed and forged coins began to be produced. In 1937, coins made of nickel brass were introduced, and in 1947, silver coins were replaced with cupronickel.

Pound decimal system

In 1971 (15 February) the pound sterling was converted to a decimal system to simplify calculations. Shillings and pennies were replaced by a single coin. The pound became equal to 100 pence, which was mostly pronounced "pi". This helped to differentiate between old and new coinage during the transition to the decimal system. And back in 1969, old coins began to be gradually withdrawn from circulation.

The first decimal coins were made of cupronickel, and in 1971 they appeared in bronze, which was later replaced by steel, first coated with copper. The modern penny appeared in 1998. What currency does England currently have from previous coinage? Of the oldest coins, only copper ones remain.

Currency of England: origin of the name, use

Sterling in English means “pure, good quality”. This is where the name of the English currency came from. The full name in the singular is pound sterling. Used mainly in a formal context or, if necessary, as a distinction from other currencies of a similar name. In everyday life it is reduced to pound or sterling. Sterling is considered the oldest European currency still in circulation.

Coins

The decimal system, which was adopted in England in 1971, is still in effect. Pennies are usually denoted by the letter “p”. What is the currency in England now? Banknotes and coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 pence. There are both one and two pounds. All coins are minted with a portrait of Elizabeth II, along the edges there is a letter engraving denoting “By the Grace of God, Queen Defender of the Faith.”

On the reverse side of the coins are depicted: the Abbey portcullis, the coat of arms of the Prince of Wales, the thistle, the lion, the Tudor rose, the leek and the symbol of the British Isles. On the two-pound coin, in addition to the abstraction symbolizing the technological development of England, there is an engraving “Standing on the shoulders of giants”. These words belong to Isaac Newton. Crowns can still be found in everyday life. They are considered legal money, just like coins issued by the mint.

English banknotes

England's currency in the form of banknotes was first issued in 1964 by the Bank of England. The first pounds sterling come in denominations of 5, 10, 20 and 50. They all feature Queen Elizabeth II on one side. This is the only monarch whose image was used on banknotes to prevent counterfeiting of banknotes. On the reverse side of the paper pounds there are images of various historically significant persons (natives of Great Britain): Elizabeth Fry, Charles Darwin, Edward Elgar, Adam Smith and John Houblon.

I once had an embarrassment with English pounds. One day, while passing by a bank branch, I noticed a favorable exchange rate. I decided to buy, diluting my dollar “currency reserve” with pounds. They gave me nice £50 notes. I put them in a distant cabinet and forgot. And the Bank of England, meanwhile, take and remove from circulation the 1994 50-pound banknotes, which are exactly what I had.

With great grief we managed to exchange them for new ones, but at a great loss.

Name of currency in England

Pounds sterling are the most beautiful money I have ever seen. The taste of the British, no matter what area you take, is all right. The pound sterling is the official means of payment in the following countries:

• Wales.
• Scotland.
• England.
• Northern Ireland.

Despite the fact that Great Britain has been part of the European Union since 1973 and until now (despite the referendum on leaving the EU), it has never been part of the eurozone and has always had only its own currency - the pound. The euro is not a legal means of payment in England.

By the way, before World War II, the British pound was the main reserve currency in the world, not the American dollar. In the 30s, the pound had the slang name “cable”, since all transactions on the exchanges at that time were carried out, firstly, in pounds, and secondly, the telegraph was the means of communication.

After World War II, when the British entered a severe economic crisis, the pound lost its status as the main world currency. Since then, the main world currency has been the US dollar. It is interesting that the Americans, unlike the British, never took old banknotes out of circulation. The 1899 one dollar bill is still a full-fledged legal currency.

The pound is also interesting because on the banknotes of the British monarchs only Elizabeth II could be seen, and then on the 50-pound banknotes that had already been withdrawn from circulation. Now all paper English pounds of all denominations depict famous cultural or historical figures of England.

The monetary unit of Great Britain - the pound sterling (from the Latin pondus (gravity, weight) - in the past a measure of weight and a monetary unit of account) has been put into circulation since the time of the Anglo-Saxons. The name of the monetary unit reflects the mass content of the metal used to mint British coins - pence; 240 pence were minted from one pound of silver, which were also called “sterlings”, 20 pence made up a shilling, respectively, there were 12 shillings in 1 pound. The word “sterling” meant money of standard weight and fineness, which was the name for large silver pennies. In the early Middle Ages, the monetary unit of many Western European countries was the so-called Roman pound, or Libra. Since the mass of 240 pence, or sterling, was equal to a unit of mass - a pound, i.e. Libra, the pound sterling still has the symbol L.

The pound sterling was used long before the emergence of a centralized state - back in the 9th-10th centuries. In the XIV century. In England, gold pounds sterling appeared in circulation until the end of the 18th century. There is a bimetallic monetary system. The first £1 coin was minted in 1489 - a gold sovereign (sovereign - monarch). The first sovereign weighed 15.55 grams of .994 gold, which corresponded to the value of a pound of silver coins, or 20 shillings. The obverse depicted Henry VII on the throne, and the reverse depicted a rose with the coat of arms of the state. The name “sovereign” comes from the image on the obverse of the coin of a luxuriously decorated king on the throne (Fig. 4.5).

Rice. 4.5. Gold pound sterling (sovereign) sample 1642

At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. England becomes the first country of gold monometallism. By law of 1798, the coinage of silver was prohibited (the payment power of silver coins was limited to the amount of 25 pounds sterling for each payment). However, since during this period England was at war with France, the exchange of banknotes for gold (characteristic of gold monometallism) was stopped, and until 1821 banknotes that were not redeemable for gold were in circulation.

From 1816 to 1914, a gold coin standard system operated in England. According to the act of R. Peel (1844), the issue of banknotes was almost 100% backed by gold, and the fiduciary issue should not exceed 14 million pounds. Art., which were secured by loans issued by the Bank of England to the state. This law proclaimed the final monopolization of issuing activities by the Bank of England. The Bank of England is one of the oldest banks of issue in Europe, founded in 1694. Issuing activities were monopolized in 1844. Currently, it is part of the system of banks of issue in the EU countries.

The issuing banks that existed by that time retained their issuing rights at a certain fixed level, but the newly created banks did not receive such a right.

In 1914, the Bank of England ceased to be exchanged for gold, and gold coins were withdrawn from circulation. To cover military expenses, the government issues treasury notes. In 1925, the exchange of banknotes for gold was restored, but in a reduced form of the gold bullion standard. Despite the significant decrease in the purchasing power of the pound sterling, England did not devalue it and carried out a restoration of the currency, restoring the pre-war gold content of the monetary unit. 1925 was the beginning of monetary reform, which ended in 1928 with the withdrawal of treasury notes from circulation and the granting of the Bank of England the right to fiduciary issue of banknotes in the amount of 260 million pounds. Art. An issue in excess of this amount could only be carried out with the consent of the Treasury, confirmed by Parliament. Until the beginning of the 30s of the XX century. Great Britain retained its status as a reserve currency issuer.

The gold bullion standard existed until 1931. During the global economic crisis, England was forced to abandon the exchange of banknotes for gold. Since that time, a system of fiat credit money has been in effect in England. The UK's position in foreign markets is weakening, the British currency is gradually losing its leading position and turning into a secondary reserve currency.

The main type of money in the UK, as in other countries, is money in non-cash form, i.e. funds in bank accounts - deposit money. Cash - banknotes and small change - makes up about 32% of the total money supply in circulation.

The main issuer of money is the Bank of England, coins are issued by the Treasury, non-cash issues are concentrated in commercial banks and other credit institutions.

Currently in circulation are fractional change coins in denominations of 1 penny, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 pence (Fig. 4.6), as well as a composite coin in denomination of 2 pounds sterling.

Rice. 4.6. 1998 50p coin

The first partially printed banknotes appeared in Great Britain already in 1695 - these were 12 thousand banknotes in six denominations (from 10 to 100 pounds), on which the name of the bearer, the date and the signature of the cashier were written by hand. Banknotes of this type lasted for more than 100 years. In 1809, fully printed banknotes were issued for the first time, with only the cashier's signature handwritten on them. Since 1854, the signature began to be printed using a typographic method. Early Bank of England notes were larger than modern ones, single-sided, and printed in black on a white background. Since 1960, portraits of the reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, have become a distinctive feature of English banknotes. Since 1970, historical figures began to be depicted on the reverse side of banknotes.

The Bank of England currently issues banknotes in denominations of £5, £10, £20 and £50. The general composition of the front sides of banknotes of all denominations is the same: on the right is a portrait of the Queen, in the center in an oval there is a watermark also in the form of her portrait, on the left is a seated figure of Britain (different on banknotes of different denominations). Below to the left of the watermark is a large geometric figure (circle, rhombus, square or triangle) to help visually impaired people (Fig. 4.7). On the front of the £50 note is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the Britannia medallion; on the reverse side is a portrait of the first President of the Bank of England, Sir John Houblon.

Rice. 4.7. 1994 £50 note

Since 2002, along with pounds sterling, euro banknotes and coins have been in circulation. The evolution of the UK monetary system is shown in Fig. 4.8.

Rice. 4.8. Stages of development of the UK monetary system

Money-credit policy

The main goal of UK monetary policy is to achieve price stability. Monetary policy, along with the Bank of England, is carried out by the Treasury. Unlike other central banks, the Bank of England cannot conduct monetary policy) "independently of the government, since in 1946 it was nationalized - the share capital was bought by the British Treasury. The implementation of monetary policy is based on two main elements: annual targets set by the government inflation targets and a commitment to an open and predictable decision-making regime. In conducting monetary policy, the Bank of England's responsibility is to set the level of short-term interest rates in accordance with government targets.

Absolutely every country has its own history. And the topic that concerns money is no exception to the rule. Today I will tell you about the money of England. It just so happened that I needed to go abroad, and so I became interested in what kind of money was circulating there, so that no incidents would happen later. And since I had never been to England, I decided to go to the forum and read what people were saying about money in England, what the exchange rate was there. So, The English monetary currency is the pound sterling, from English, Pondsterleng, Pond, Briteshpond).

This currency is the currency that directly belongs to the United Kingdom, also Northern Great Britain, which includes Scotland, the Welsh region, and Great Britain itself. I learned this later from my friends, who, it turns out, were already in England, unlike me.

Money of England (currency)

In addition, the presented currency has direct relation to the main territories Gers, Gansey, and to the Isles of Man. With the same success, the pound sterling also operates in the overseas territories: the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, the Islands belonging to St. Helena, and Ascension. Singular, penny.

Symbols of the currency is £, from the Latin - libra, which, in turn, is similar to the pound. The encoding is ISO 4217, but the older abbreviation UK is often used. Today, the following banknotes are in circulation: 10,20, 50 and 5 pounds. As for coins, 2 and 1 pound are in circulation.

It is extremely rare to find coins representing the denomination of 5 pounds and 25 pence. This is perhaps a case in a million, but it still happens. A very interesting method is used by those banks that are located in more separate territories that belong to the UK. And these are as many as three Scottish banks and four related to Northern Ireland. They issue banknotes that have a completely individual design. People have many versions about the origin of the very name of the English currency.

From some sources one can read that the name appeared already in the 12th century, and was initially called as a pound belonging to pure silver. It was believed that the coins were made without any other impurities. Today, in more modern English, in order to denote money, they use the name pound.

For example, 10 pounds, 20 pounds and so on. But in order to make some difference between the currencies of the same direction in other countries, the name, pound sterling, is used. It must be said that sterling has become widespread relatively recently.

If we take into account simpler texts of an unofficial nature, then there you can find a completely different name, the British pound. But it is very rarely used, and pronounced even less often than on paper. Absolutely all currency traders refer to the presented currency as kebel, from English, kebel.

Very interesting fact: American anthropologist and political scientist, Leah Grenfeld believes that in the very name of the pound sterling, one can identify the nickname of the corporation, which belongs to the Hanseatic Corporation in London. This office is located on the Steel Palace, it is an English language Steelland. The more you understand English history, the more you admire it. In general, nothing is complicated, the money is from England, you can easily get used to it and then use it.