Silver Coins 1921
BRITAIN’S NEW SILVER CURRENCY
SOME ten months ago the price of silver rose to a phenomenal figure in Great Britain and the authorities felt considerable anxiety lest people should be tempted to melt down the silver coinage in order to obtain silver bullion from it. Whereas in prewar days the shilling had an intrinsic value of about eightpence, a point was reached in 1920 where the shilling became worth more than its currency value. The tears tor the currency proved groundless, because silver did not remain very long at the abnormally high figure. Moreover, the prohibition against melting down was sufficient check on any attempt to withdraw the silver currency from circulation and convert it into bullion. Nevertheless, the Bankers Trust Company of New York tells us in one of its bulletins, the decision to produce a new coinage of lower intrinsic value has been persisted in, altho the immediate cause has to-day vanished.
So now— The British Mint is issuing a new silver currency, half silver and half alloy, consisting of 500 instead of 925 parts fine silver to the 1,000. The latter has been the authorized quality since the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
In course of time the present silver will be withdrawn from circulation and this new coinage will replace it. The currency can not be used in payment of foreign debt and is intended only for use as small change in England.
It would be quite incorrect, we are told, to say that the British Government is making any real profit on the transaction, as some people assume naturally, for it bad to buy high-price silver for replacement purposes. It is also pointed out that the cost of production has increased. That means that “the cost of producing counterfeit coin has also increased, and the new coins, owing to the labor involved, would be just as difficult to counterfeit at a profit as the prewar coins.”
Source: The Literary Digest for March 5, 1921
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