Economics And Business Codexery

Pound sterling

The world's oldest currency in continuous use.

Pound sterling

Colonial Bank of Australasia (note), Heritage Auctions (image) · Public domain

The currency known as sterling, with the symbol £ and the code GBP, serves as the official money for the United Kingdom along with nine of its dependent territories, and it previously held that role for the Kingdom of England.[1] Starting in 1971, the base unit of sterling, the pound, has been subdivided into one hundred pence.[2] Since it was first created, sterling has been the oldest currency in the world that has never stopped being used.[3]

Quick Facts

Currency name
Sterling
Unit
pound
Used coins
  • 1p
  • 2p
  • 5p
  • 10p
  • 20p
  • 50p
  • £1
  • £2

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

In 1158, King Henry II introduced the Tealby penny, minting a Tower Pound of 92.5% silver into 240 pennies.[4] The gold standard was suspended at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.[5] A version of the gold standard was reintroduced in 1925 but abandoned on 21 September 1931 during the Great Depression.[6] Decimalisation occurred on Decimal Day in 1971, dividing the pound into 100 pence.[7]

In Anglo-Saxon England, the pound functioned as a unit for accounting purposes.[8] King Offa of Mercia, who reigned from 757 to 796, is credited with the beginnings of sterling; he created a "sterling" coin by splitting a Tower pound of silver, which weighed 5,400 grains or 349.9 grams, into 240 equal portions.[9]

What the cited sources add

The halfpenny coin was the last denomination to be withdrawn, ceasing to be legal tender in 1984.[10] The shilling was superseded in 1968 by the new decimal 5p piece but remained in circulation as 5p until 31 December 1990.[11] The term "quid" is still commonly used in the United Kingdom as slang for the British pound.[12] One theory proposes that "quid" derived from the Latin term "quid pro quo," meaning "something for something".[12]

The term "quid" emerged in the late 17th century and was originally used as slang by street vendors.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hashimzade, "A Dictionary of Economics", Oxford University Press, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Pound", Oxford University Press, 2004; Moles, "The Handbook of International Financial Terms", 1999; "Pound", Oxford University Press, 2004 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rendall, "Economic terms explained", BBC News, 12 November 2007; "Triennial Central Bank Survey", BIS, 27 October 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shaw, "The History of Currency, 1252–1894: Being an Account of the Gold and Silver Moneys and Monetary Standards of Europe and America, Together with an Examination of the Effects of Currency and Exchange Phenomena on Co (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Interest Burden of Inter-Government Debts", The Economic World, 2 September 1922, p. 342; Steiner, "The lights that failed : European international history, 1919–1933", Oxford University Press, 2005 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Board of Trade Journal, 7 January 1932 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "1984: Halfpenny coin to meet its maker", BBC News, 2008 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Naismith, "Coinage", Blackwell Publishing, 2014b, p. 330 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Pound sterling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Pound sterling"; Lowther, "A short history of the pound", BBC News, 14 February 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "1984: Halfpenny coin to meet its maker", BBC News, 2008. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
  11. "Shilling", The Royal Mint Museum. facts only, no text reused. royalmintmuseum.org.uk
  12. Crispe, "Why is it called a quid? History of the Quid", Sunny Avenue, 2023-08-30. facts only, no text reused. sunnyavenue.co.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Pound sterling (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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