Speaking of money

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 87594

:
> Iggy here:
> 
> Can someone name the different levels of British currency and how 
> they relate to each other?  (Using the pound as a base...)

Pip!Squeak:
Well, modern British muggle money is similar to the US system; it's 
a decimal based system. One pound is 100 pennies. This is the system 
that has been in use for all Harry's life.

We don't have names for the different coins, because it's too new a 
system - I think we decimalised in either the late sixties or early 
seventies. So they are just called 'fivepence', 'tenpence'. Though 
you might hear 'twopence' pronounced as 'tuppence' and a penny 
as 'one pee'.

The most common slang is to add the -er to the notes; so oncer, 
fiver, tenner. 

JKR's WW money is based on the old English money system, which was 
complete bloody chaos. She's made up the proportions (29 knuts to a 
Sickle and 17 Sickles to a Galleon), but it's close to the original.

The pre-decimalisation money system was what you get when you add 
coins as you need them over several centuries, with no one ever 
actually bothering to rationalise anything. ;-)

The basic unit was the penny, which could be divided into four 
farthings, or two halfpenny's (pronounced 'haypenny'). Twelve 
pennies made a shilling. Five shillings made a Crown. Four Crowns 
(20 shillings) made a pound.

Instead of the Pound, many prices, fees etc. were calculated in 
Guineas. That was 21 shillings.

There were also some quite wonderful coins, such as the half-a-
crown, which makes sense in terms of being half of a Crown, but not 
so much sense when you work out that it's two Shillings and six 
Pence.

Compared with the older muggle system, Galleons Sickles and Knuts 
look perfectly rational. ;-)

Pip!Squeak