Posts Tagged ‘currency’

Things You Probably Don’t Know About UK Currency (But Should Know)

Posted on: January 7th, 2019 by Ian Stormnet

Moolah, cash, wedge, wonga the list goes on. No matter how you look at it, money really does make the world go round; we all need it, and we’d all like rather more of it.

However, our UK currency has rather a lot of history attached to it or rather some bizarre but interesting facts. We have put together some of the best ones we have found. Before you ask, no you can’t have a pound for every one you have heard before.

The direction of the Monarch faces on coins changes with each appointment

God save the Queen! However, when we finally do have a new monarch, the first job for them will be to approve a likeness of their face which will adorn the currency for the nation. Here is hoping the new monarch be it Prince Charles or Prince William left side is their best side as that is what we will be seeing when we hand over the cash. New currency will be phased in over time once a new monarch has been appointed and will take around three years to complete.

Two coins weigh the same as one coin!

What you may say! But it is true. Two 1p coins weigh the same as one 2p coin and two 5p coins weigh the same as one 10p coin. We bet that surprised you!

It’s true a million pound note and £100m notes do really exist

While the £50 note is the highest-value banknote in general circulation in the UK, deep down (and we are talking way deep) in the Bank of England’s vaults, there are a small number of real £1m and £100m notes respectively known as “giants” and “titans. They are not supposed to ever appear on the streets, but instead play a role in the financial system by backing the value of the everyday notes issued by commercial banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland; according to the BBC, “for every pound an authorised Scottish or Northern Irish bank wants to print in the form of its own notes, it has to deposit the equivalent amount in sterling with the Bank of England.”
Imagine popping into your local shop with a million pound note and needing change!

How the Farthing came about

Between 1860 and 1956 the farthing was in use. It was worth one quarter of a penny and spanned six monarchs. Farthing was a corruption of ‘fourthing’, which makes total sense when you think about it, and yet we’d never thought about it before. As far back as 1060, an English coin which was minted was shaped like a clover – any of the four leaves could then be broken off and used as separate pieces of currency.

The Brits are world leaders at counterfeiting

In these uncertain times, where Britain is increasingly uncertain of its place in the global world order, it’s truly comforting to know that we’re still good at important things, like counterfeiting bank notes. According to the central banks, there are 300 fake notes in every one million sterling notes, compared to 100 for the US dollar, 50 for the Euro and 10 for the Swiss franc. It’s amazing what you can do with a scanner and a decent printer isn’t it? But we don’t recommend you try this at home!

The Nazis tried to flood the UK with counterfeit notes during the Second World War

In an effort to devalue British currency and destabilise the economy, Nazi Germany produced huge quantities of counterfeit sterling notes during the Second World War. By 1945, a staggering 12 per cent of the value of notes in circulation were fake. They tackled the problem by removing higher denomination notes from circulation, and putting metal threads through new notes, to make them harder to forge. Churchill himself would surely have approved of his image adorning the new polymer fivers, which are designed to be the hardest to copy yet.

Stamps are not legal tender

Despite what David Brent form the Office might think, stamps are not, in fact, legal tender. In the words of the Royal Mint: “While you are free to accept stamps as payment for a service or goods, there is no legal obligation for you to accept them when offered and you have no legal recourse if payment in stamps is refused!”

Don’t go having any funny ideas about paying fines in pennies

Despite regular stories of disgruntled motorists paying their parking fines using nothing but pennies, be advised that the council is under no obligation to accept them. While relevant parties can choose to accept any type of payment they wish – be they coins or otherwise – in England and Wales, restrictions apply on sums below £1, where they are only obligated to accept the following amounts: Up to £10 in 20p, up to £5 in 10p and 5p, and up to just 20p in 2p and 1p.

The £5 note is not indestructible

If you haven’t already tried we have!

It is not illegal to burn money

Before you rush to report us for the above crime, it is a little-known fact that it is not illegal to burn money – as long as you destroy it. However, defacing money is subject to a penalty under the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1928. The reason for this is that damaged notes could be kept in circulation, whereas destroying them simply lowers the money supply – inadvertently gifting everyone else in the UK a very small proportion of the money that you have destroyed, as the total value of the remaining currency remains the same as previously. The K Foundation (parent organisation of The KLF) famously burned a million pounds in 1994, but would not have faced any charges for this act. Ironically, they had already been fined £9,000 plus £500 reprint costs for defacing that million pounds when they’d previously nailed a load of £50 notes to an art gallery wall.

The use of gold in coins ended when the First World War broke out

Prior to 1914, the gold sovereign, worth £1 was in circulation in the UK. However, upon the outbreak of war, the government asked the public to hand in their sovereigns, as the gold could be used to pay off international debt, support the Bank of England’s reserves and fund the war effort – in its place came the £1 and £10 notes. By the summer of 1915, gold had all but disappeared from circulation.

There’s a gloriously huge amount of cockney rhyming slang terms

Cockney rhyming slang has given us myriad examples of wonderful wordplay and, the East Enders seem to be more than a little obsessed with money – perhaps due to the City of London’s activities on its doorstep. So, just so you know how to do that next dodgy deal down the Ten Bells and you want to speak the proper lingo, here is your official translation guide:

Archer = £2000
Bag of Sand = £1000
Grand = £1000
Monkey = £500
Carpet = £300 (in car dealing)
Ton = £100
Carpet = £30
Pony = £25, Macaroni = £25
Apple Core = £20
Score = £20
Speckled Hen = £10
Uncle Ben = £10
Nigel Been = £10
Paul McKenna = £10
Ayrton (Senna) = Tenner
Lady (Godiva) = Fiver
Taxi Driver = £5

Coppers are not made of copper, but non-copper coins are made of copper

That’s right, since 1992, 1p and 2p coins have been made of steel, (albeit plated with copper), while every coin worth more than 10p is made mostly of copper. Prior to 1992, 1p and 2p coins were made of bronze (97% copper), but by May 2006, these coins contained 3p worth of copper, which was confusing for everyone involved.

The M11 has an exit but not an entry on Junction 5 to prevent would-be thieves escaping

The M11, a brilliant motorway completed back in 1980 that linked London and Cambridge, But an interesting story surrounds the mysterious junction 5, at which you can leave the motorway, but cannot join it to go Northbound, or Southbound. There’s no clear reason why this isn’t a fully functioning junction but legend has it that there is no entry due to its proximity to the De La Rue Currency factory – which prints banknotes for the Bank of England. This way, any potential bank robbers wouldn’t be able to quickly make good their escape onto a motorway and out of London. While we agree this is not a facet, we are certain no authorities will be in a hurry to confirm this!

Leftover Currency

Posted on: August 6th, 2012 by Ian Stormnet

Exchange you leftover currency for CASH

When you go on holiday most of us return with some left over currency that we have not managed to spend. However hard we try there are always a few foreign coins that manage to end up not being spent. The problem is that banks and bureau de change operations will not exchange foreign coins or any leftover currency back into cash.

The reason that the banks won’t change foreign coins is because of the exceptionally large costs associated with counting, sorting and shipping the coins back to their country of origin before their value can be realised.

However, there is a great way to change your leftover currency and coins…. use our currency exchange service here at Cash 4 Coins. We are the UK’s most trusted foreign exchange company specialising in left over currency conversion.  We have helped countless customers to make the most of their currency and we could do the same for you. Whether you have a jar full of Euro coins or you have British coins you want to change to USD, we can help you to exchange your leftover currency for cash!  It couldn’t be easier.

Exchange your leftover currency in three easy steps…

Step 1

Package up your left over coins and currency and send them to us here at Cash 4 Coins. If you have over a certain weight you can use our drop off service or alternatively we may collect for FREE.

Check out or page ‘How to send us coins‘ for full details.

Step 2

We count and sort the left over currency and then make you an offer to buy them.

Step 3

If you accept our offer then we pay you! It’s really that simple. You can check out just how good our service is by what our customers say about our service. Go to our ‘customer comments’ page.

We provide a fast, efficient and friendly service for a wide range of customers from private individuals to schools, hospitals and businesses who want to exchange their left over currency into usable cash.  You can trust us to give you the best possible service and we can even collect your coins for FREE if they are over a certain weight.  We are the company that likes to say Yes when it comes to exchanging leftover currency and our team is on hand right now to help.

In particular, many charities and fundraisers use our services to generate much needed funds for their chosen course. We have a specialist team that are dedicated to charities so why not give us a call and change your left over currency into cash today.  If you want some fundraising ideas, give our team a call.  Turning leftover currency into Sterling has never been easier and you will be surprised how much those foreign coins and notes can be worth.

Don’t let leftover currency go to waste when Cash4Coins can exchange it for you.  Our team is waiting to accept your coins now and we will even sort and count them for you.  It really has never been easier to make the most of your money!

Coin Currency Exchange

Posted on: August 4th, 2012 by Ian Stormnet

THE leading coin currency exchange service…

At Cash4Coins we provide a coin currency exchange service that allows you to exchange foreign coins and notes into Sterling. We accept ALL currencies from the Euro to Pesetas and anything in between. If you have any leftover foreign coins lying around at home or at work then why not turn them into £GBP today?

We pretty much accept all coins and notes:

Any foreign coins
All foreign notes
Euro coins and notes
Pre-Euro coins and notes
Old British coins and notes
Old Irish coins and notes
Pre-decimal coins and notes

 

We also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee – if you are not entirely happy with our valuation we will return your coins at our expense. So there is no risk whatsoever. This is just one of the reasons why we are the trusted partner to banks, hospitals, schools, charities, attractions and businesses. We pride ourselves on a great customer experience and it shows in everything we do.

At Cash4Coins we appreciate that the banks won’t change coins back into Sterling for you.  They don’t want to get involved with the sorting, counting or repatriation of foreign coins and so don’t offer a coin currency exchange service.  That’s where Cash4Coins comes in.  We bridge the gap by offering a simple, convenient and quick coin currency exchange service that you can use whenever you have foreign coins to exchange.  Just think about that extra money you could have in your pocket and you don’t even have to worry about counting or sorting your coins as we handle that side for you.

Our coin currency exchange service is fast and easy to use…

Step 1 – Package up your coins and post to us here at Cash4Coins

Step 2 – We count and sort the coins and provide a valuation offer

Step 3 – If you accept our valuation then we’ll transfer the money directly into your bank account (or PayPal) account if you prefer. (If you don’t accept our offer then we’ll return the coins to you at our expense) – It really is that easy!

Above certain weights we’ll even collect your foreign coins for FREE – please go to ‘How to send us coins‘ for full details.  What could be easier than arranging your coin currency exchange with the experts at Cash4Coins?  We have helped countless customers to release the value of their foreign coins. This is money that was simply lying around, but which we were able to transform into cold hard cash ready to spend in the UK. Whether you are a charity, school, hospital, museum or you have just come back from holiday with a pocketful of coins, we can help.

This is why so many people have used our tried and tested coin currency exchange service. Lots of people like to get together to collect foreign currency with friends and colleagues – it’s a great way to raise money for your local charity, school or club.  We can also give you some great fundraising ideas so get in touch with our teams today.

If you’d like to talk to us about how to exchange foreign coins or if you’d like more info or help then please get in touch.

 

Currency Exchange

Posted on: August 1st, 2012 by Ian Stormnet

Use our currency exchange for foreign coins

If you are looking for a currency exchange service where you can exchange unwanted foreign coins and notes into cash then you’ve come to the right place! Here at Cash4Coins we will exchange ANY foreign currency into Sterling, which means that you can now liberate those poor lonely mixed foreign coins that have been sat in your junk drawer or change jar! (probably for years!!)

Whether you have just returned from a foreign holiday or you have been stashing the cash in a jar for some time, it makes sense to put that cash to good use. It might not look like much to the naked eye, but trust us – those humble little coins could be worth far more than you think. We have made many of our customers very happy by changing up their foreign currency into Sterling and we can do the same for you. Why not club together with friends to see how much foreign currency you have. It could be enough for a night out, a shopping spree or just a little extra money for life’s luxuries.

Our currency exchange service is second to none and we are trusted by banks, hospitals, charities, schools, businesses, clubs and individuals to give the best rates. Once we have received, sorted and counted the currency we’ll e-mail you a valuation offer for your foreign coins and notes. If you’re happy with this then we’ll then pay you electronically directly into your nominated bank account – it’s really that simple. (If you are not happy with our offer then we’ll return your currency at our expense to you) – so either way there is nothing to lose!

Our currency exchange service is fast, simple and secure and we’ll even collect your currency for FREE over certain weights – see our page ‘How to send us coins‘ for full details. You may want to take a look at our customer comments, where you’ll see a wide variety of great things that people are saying about our foreign coin exchange service. We give our customers the fastest exchange service and we can also give you advice on exchange rates, how to change coins for charity and any other aspect of our foreign currency exchange service.  So, collect together your coins now to see how much Sterling you could make.  You could be pleasantly surprised!

Why not get together with a bunch of friends, colleagues or neighbours and start a collection for your favourite charity, local school or club. You’ll be amazed at how much foreign currency you’ve got lying around. It’s a great way of fundraising, especially when people don’t mind donating leftover foreign coins. It can really boost a charity collection.

If you’d like any further help or advice then please feel free to call our customer service team who will be glad to help where possible. Why not try us our today and turn those leftover foreign coins into cash! You could be sitting on top of a virtual gold mine without even knowing it.