Bloody hell Moose! I don't know if I can cope with this at this time of night, but I'll try, bear with me.
"Moose"]Alan - I know that technically there were more old pennies in an old pound than new pennies in a new pound
There was no NEW pound, they simply changed it from being worth 144 pennies to being worth 100 pence.
but everything I have ever read has indicated that you could get WAY more with an old penny than a new. I might be wrong there
.
Maybe in 1948, you could get more with an old penny than you can NOW with a new penny.
a shilling became five new pence, but surely even in the early days you could not get with five pence what you could have got with a shilling? Or could you?
First off, let me say I don't like your use of the term "early days" you make me sound ancient
A shilling simply became 5 pence as opposed to 12 pennies, so when something went up by say 6 pence, it wasn't going up by just over half a shilling (sixpence) it was going up by more than a shilling, (a shilling + 1.4 pennies)
Let me give you an example. At the time of decimalisation, a pint of beer in Bransty legion, cost 1s 11d and it would go up maybe a penny a year.
The day after decimilisaton it went up to 10p to "round it off" there was hell on.
Now if you go back to 1971, a pint of beer costing 10p, and add 1d per year, a pint would now cost 5 shilling, or 25 pence.
Now I know we've got to allow for inflation and stuff, but hey come on.
25p a pint, a opposed to what? £2.50.
Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.