NO 1925 PENNIES

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 20 February 1926, Page 9

NO 1925 PENNIES

THE extra Treasury notes and Bank notes required by the British public for Christmas usually amounts to about £25,000,000 (writes “A Banker” in a London journal). This money, however, quickly finds its way back to the banks again—largely through tradesmen’s accounts —and by the end of January the circulation figures are normal again. Large quantities of additional coin also are circulated. . New money is always eagerly demanded by the public just before Christmas. A new, glittering coin < is regarded as a much nicer present than a dull one. Some years there tends to be a scarcity of new money, but this year there is , plenty about. Not all of it, however, is dated 1925. A considerable quantity was minted .in 1923 and 1924, but is now being circulated for the first time The Bank of. England, by the way, is not very enthusiastic about this demand for new money in preference to old, as it often results in more coins being put into circulation than is necessary.

TOO MUCH COPPER ALREADY MINTED.

The new silver now being issued is much superior to that minted three or four years ago. In 1920 the proportion of pure silver was reduced from 92.5 per cent, to 50 per cent., and the resultant coins were deplorable. The money was frequently discoloured before it left the Mint, and sometimes verdigris appeared! The process of manufacture, however, has been vastly improved, and the new coins now issued are as bright and gleaming as their pre-war brethren. Housewives need no longer fear to boil them in their Christmas puddings. Bright now pennies are always in great demand for the children, but, unfortunately, for the third Christmas in succession none was obtainable. The mint made so many during and after the war—over 700,000,000 between 1914 and 1922—that bank vaults are full of them. No more will be struck until a real demand arises.

There are, 'however, some 1925 halfpennies and farthings. These may be a compensation.