Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Now, what would 2/6 be worth in today's currency, preferably in U.S. dollars?
Bob
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Bob, you can use this online tool
http://futureboy.us/fsp/dollar.fsp
By doing the pence and shillings separately and then adding them together, I come up with 7.34 USD in today's dollars.
Mike in NC / meostamps
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2/6d in modern British coinage is 12 1/2p (twelve and a half pence) which I think is about 8c - 9c in USA
there four farthings to a penny and obviously 2 halfpennies to a penny then 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound (£)difficult for todays kids to get their heads around but hey, peoples math was so much better then
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Or could 2/6 be June 2nd? (British and Canadian dates put the day first, then the month)
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"2/6" here will be an old dealer's selling price.
"2/6" is read as "two and six" and means two shillings and sixpence.
The coin of this value (which was called a "half crown") had the nickname of "half a dollar", as for a long time the exchange rate was four US dollars to the pound.
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....or, four dollars to the 'knicker'.
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Is there a 'newsprint' issue for the shields?
I thought they were only for a couple of the pictorial issue?
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1941/3 were printed by the Evening Post(1/2 and 1d(SG:1+2));also the 2 1/2 d from 25.2.44 was newsprint (SG:7a and ab)
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Thank you to those members who have responded to my question about today's value of a half-crown (2 shillings 6 pence). Responses have ranged from US $.08 to almost $9, so I'm no closer to an answer. The web site that Meostamps mentioned gives a current value US $8.87. Any additional comments or opinions are welcome. Perhaps the better way to look at this question is to ask what a half-crown would have purchased in 1940. (In case you haven't noticed, I am seriously challenged when it comes to understanding the value/purchasing power of currency over time!)
Bob
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Thank you, Anglophile. Your response makes sense to me.
Bob
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I still believe a slight confusion exists both between us posters and also the writer of the notation on the cover.
It may all be due to the differing terminology that is used in other parts of the world.
"
1941/3 were printed by the Evening Post(1/2 and 1d(SG:1+2));also the 2 1/2 d from 25.2.44 was newsprint (SG:7a and ab"
Charlie2009 made a comment that sounded like Jersey SG1&2 and SG4a&7a were printed on the same type of paper and that was confusing. The former were printed by the Evening news but NOT on newsprint paper, while the latter were NOT printed by the Evening News but were printed on newsprint paper.
I believe the comment on the cover is just a matter of terminology.
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Do I also detect a missing pin-hole on the 1d value ? Given the 'tear' on the right stamp it looks like it might be constant.
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Londonbus1 said,
"Do I also detect a missing pin-hole on the 1d value ? Given the 'tear' on the right stamp it looks like it might be constant."
I'd noticed both the missing pin-hole and the "tear," but didn't connect the two (Doh!). I'll have to keep my eyes open for other copies, which have got to be hard to find (assuming they exist) if not rare.
Bob
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When I was ten years old, two-and-six, or half-a-crown, was five times what I got for my pocket-money every Saturday. When I was 12, it was ten times the cost of posting a letter. When I was 15 it was twice the price of a cinema ticket, and you could still buy a paperback book for that much. When I was a student at 19, you could get a pie-and-beans at the local pub for half that, but a theatre ticket cost four times as much. When I was 24 they gave up shillings and pence altogether. The half-crown was a fine, solid coin that felt good in your pocket.
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Please all note that trying to convert the 2/6 on the cover to the US $ at any time is a non-starter, as there is no evidence as to when the 2/6 notation was put on the cover.It can have been any time from about 1946-ish to decimalisation in 1971. All you can say is that at the time 2/6 was 12 1/2p. The purchasing power would range from "quite a lot" in 1946 to just a little less than double the airmail rate to the US in 1971( when the US dollar was 2.4 to the £!). When I left school in 1965 I earned 48 x 2/6 ( £6) per week.
A gut feeling is that at 2/6 for that cover would relate to a period of the early to mid 1950s (possibly a little later if demand for that material was low at the time).Fast forward to 1962-ish and 2/6 would buy you 2 fish and chip takeaways or 2 pints of beer.Today 2 fish and chip takeaways costs about £11 and 2 beers £8, but I suspect that that tells you more about the relative prices of fish and beer than about the value of the cover!!
My mental arithmetic ability is not up to trying to work out all the variables present here-but any budding Einstein feel free to try!
Malcolm
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Just another variable into the mix. The purchasing power of any amount of British money varies a great deal as to where in the UK you happen to be. Your 2 beers for £8 in Leicester is likely to be anything from £10 to £15 in London and the South East (if not more).
Malcolm
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01:22:17am
Very good, Malcolm.
I was thinking of trying to equate 2/6 with the rate in the mid-sixties when it took 4$ to get a pound. But I gave up. Too late and too many other things buzzing around in my bonnet.
For instance;
Things to remember about money,
1.) A franc is worth ten cents (on a good day), with mustard, 15 cents.
2.) A pound is sixteen ounces.
3.) A Pfenning is pfive cents.
4.) A crown varies, depending of the size of the head.
5.) A centissimo is worth two fortissimo.
6.) A red chip is a dollar, a blue chip is fifty cents and a white chip is a quarter.
7.) A centime is a noun, centimental is an adjective.
"Annoymous and at least fifty years old." which accounts for the cheap hot dogs.
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I have a wartime occupation cover from Jersey on which a dealer, apparently, has pencilled the notation "Newsprint printings" (referring to the occupation stamps the cover is franked with) and "2/6" which, I assume, means 2 shillings, 6 pence. Am I correct?
Now, what would 2/6 be worth in today's currency, preferably in U.S. dollars?
Bob
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re: British money question
Bob, you can use this online tool
http://futureboy.us/fsp/dollar.fsp
By doing the pence and shillings separately and then adding them together, I come up with 7.34 USD in today's dollars.
Mike in NC / meostamps
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this post
re: British money question
2/6d in modern British coinage is 12 1/2p (twelve and a half pence) which I think is about 8c - 9c in USA
there four farthings to a penny and obviously 2 halfpennies to a penny then 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound (£)difficult for todays kids to get their heads around but hey, peoples math was so much better then
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05:17:19am
re: British money question
Or could 2/6 be June 2nd? (British and Canadian dates put the day first, then the month)
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this post
re: British money question
"2/6" here will be an old dealer's selling price.
"2/6" is read as "two and six" and means two shillings and sixpence.
The coin of this value (which was called a "half crown") had the nickname of "half a dollar", as for a long time the exchange rate was four US dollars to the pound.
Login to Like
this post
re: British money question
....or, four dollars to the 'knicker'.
Login to Like
this post
re: British money question
Is there a 'newsprint' issue for the shields?
I thought they were only for a couple of the pictorial issue?
Login to Like
this post
re: British money question
1941/3 were printed by the Evening Post(1/2 and 1d(SG:1+2));also the 2 1/2 d from 25.2.44 was newsprint (SG:7a and ab)
Login to Like
this post
re: British money question
Thank you to those members who have responded to my question about today's value of a half-crown (2 shillings 6 pence). Responses have ranged from US $.08 to almost $9, so I'm no closer to an answer. The web site that Meostamps mentioned gives a current value US $8.87. Any additional comments or opinions are welcome. Perhaps the better way to look at this question is to ask what a half-crown would have purchased in 1940. (In case you haven't noticed, I am seriously challenged when it comes to understanding the value/purchasing power of currency over time!)
Bob
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this post
re: British money question
Thank you, Anglophile. Your response makes sense to me.
Bob
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this post
re: British money question
I still believe a slight confusion exists both between us posters and also the writer of the notation on the cover.
It may all be due to the differing terminology that is used in other parts of the world.
"
1941/3 were printed by the Evening Post(1/2 and 1d(SG:1+2));also the 2 1/2 d from 25.2.44 was newsprint (SG:7a and ab"
Charlie2009 made a comment that sounded like Jersey SG1&2 and SG4a&7a were printed on the same type of paper and that was confusing. The former were printed by the Evening news but NOT on newsprint paper, while the latter were NOT printed by the Evening News but were printed on newsprint paper.
I believe the comment on the cover is just a matter of terminology.
Login to Like
this post
re: British money question
Do I also detect a missing pin-hole on the 1d value ? Given the 'tear' on the right stamp it looks like it might be constant.
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this post
re: British money question
Londonbus1 said,
"Do I also detect a missing pin-hole on the 1d value ? Given the 'tear' on the right stamp it looks like it might be constant."
I'd noticed both the missing pin-hole and the "tear," but didn't connect the two (Doh!). I'll have to keep my eyes open for other copies, which have got to be hard to find (assuming they exist) if not rare.
Bob
Login to Like
this post
re: British money question
When I was ten years old, two-and-six, or half-a-crown, was five times what I got for my pocket-money every Saturday. When I was 12, it was ten times the cost of posting a letter. When I was 15 it was twice the price of a cinema ticket, and you could still buy a paperback book for that much. When I was a student at 19, you could get a pie-and-beans at the local pub for half that, but a theatre ticket cost four times as much. When I was 24 they gave up shillings and pence altogether. The half-crown was a fine, solid coin that felt good in your pocket.
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11:12:27am
re: British money question
Please all note that trying to convert the 2/6 on the cover to the US $ at any time is a non-starter, as there is no evidence as to when the 2/6 notation was put on the cover.It can have been any time from about 1946-ish to decimalisation in 1971. All you can say is that at the time 2/6 was 12 1/2p. The purchasing power would range from "quite a lot" in 1946 to just a little less than double the airmail rate to the US in 1971( when the US dollar was 2.4 to the £!). When I left school in 1965 I earned 48 x 2/6 ( £6) per week.
A gut feeling is that at 2/6 for that cover would relate to a period of the early to mid 1950s (possibly a little later if demand for that material was low at the time).Fast forward to 1962-ish and 2/6 would buy you 2 fish and chip takeaways or 2 pints of beer.Today 2 fish and chip takeaways costs about £11 and 2 beers £8, but I suspect that that tells you more about the relative prices of fish and beer than about the value of the cover!!
My mental arithmetic ability is not up to trying to work out all the variables present here-but any budding Einstein feel free to try!
Malcolm
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11:16:45am
re: British money question
Just another variable into the mix. The purchasing power of any amount of British money varies a great deal as to where in the UK you happen to be. Your 2 beers for £8 in Leicester is likely to be anything from £10 to £15 in London and the South East (if not more).
Malcolm
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
28 Feb 2015
01:22:17am
re: British money question
Very good, Malcolm.
I was thinking of trying to equate 2/6 with the rate in the mid-sixties when it took 4$ to get a pound. But I gave up. Too late and too many other things buzzing around in my bonnet.
For instance;
Things to remember about money,
1.) A franc is worth ten cents (on a good day), with mustard, 15 cents.
2.) A pound is sixteen ounces.
3.) A Pfenning is pfive cents.
4.) A crown varies, depending of the size of the head.
5.) A centissimo is worth two fortissimo.
6.) A red chip is a dollar, a blue chip is fifty cents and a white chip is a quarter.
7.) A centime is a noun, centimental is an adjective.
"Annoymous and at least fifty years old." which accounts for the cheap hot dogs.
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