WHERE SOVEREIGNS ARE SUSPECT

Evening Star, Issue 20254, 15 August 1929, Page 12

WHERE SOVEREIGNS ARE SUSPECT

CURIOUS STORY FROM ENGLAND Sovereigns are under* suspicion. They are just as shiny and golden an ever, but nobody loves them novvThousauds of young people have never seen one, writes a correspondent of the ‘Daily Chronicle,’ London. Not long ago a sovereign was the most popular thing for its size in the kingdom. To-day it is hard to obtain a sovereign in London. But it is ten times harder to get rid of it once yon have got it. AT THE BANK. • To see how London in 1929 would “react” to a sovereign, I walked through the doors of the Bank of England determined to get one or die in the attempt. Officials in gold-trimmed, three-cor-nered hats pointed down winding corridors to the sovereign department. “A sovereign!” exclaimed the man behind the counter aghast, as if the bank rate bad dropped with a thud. Ho beckoned with a. trembling hand to another official, who looked like a deputy-governor at least. “This gentleman,” he said, in awed tones, “wants a sovereign!” The other official started, then recovered himself. “ What do you want it for?” he asked, sternly, wondering, perhaps, if I intended to start a little coining business with it. “I’m told that one is very useful on holiday on the Continent,” 1 said humbly. The official walked through a door and came back with a sovereign, which he exchanged for a note. “There yon are,” he said,, in a tone which indicated that such a thing must not occur again. PREFERRED A SHILLING. The first person to be tested with the sovereign was a pretty young typist. “ What is it?” she asked. “ What does it look like?” “Well,” she said, “it looks like a nicely spring-cleaned half-penny.” Next it was shown to a London messenger boy, who was told it was a sovereign, “It’s worth twenty shillings. He sniffed. “Or 240 pennies.” He sniggered. “ Here’s a shilling. Which of the two would you like?” He considered for a moment; then, thinking that safety first was best, he took the shilling. Finally a business-like young woman in a restaurant cash desk took it, inspected both sides, looked at tbo date, looked twice at the customer, consulted her co-cashier—and accepted it She ■ flung it carelessly into tbo cash box, -the most distinguished *. "sitor that the other coins had seen for years. “The last time sovereigns were coined in London was in 1925,” said a well-known banking authority. “In that year about 3,500,000 were minted, but prior to that there had not been any issued in London since 19’7.”