| The £1 coin went into circulation last week, challenging the durability of the existing note and | ||
| adding to the weight in British pockets and purses. The new coin is slightly smaller in diameter | ||
| than the 5 point coin but thicker, and with a milled edge. | ||
| 'The £l note is now a unit of change, not of value,' according to the Banking Information | ||
| 5 | Service. 'Shops are paying in larger notes when they bank and holding on to pound notes to use | |
| as change for their customers, 'said its spokesman. The consequence has been a growing stock of | ||
| aging, tatty £1 notes in circulation. | ||
| Coinage - along with warm air central heating and shoe laces - is one of those things where | ||
| there has been virtually no product development for 2,000 years. The new coin is a nice enough | ||
| 10 | piece of mintpersonship to be sure, but something that anyone in the Roman Empire would have | |
| no difficulty in recognizing for what it is just like any coin of 2,000 years ago, it has someone's | ||
| head on one side and a few squiggles on the other. | ||
| Why? The question is worth asking because it would be perfectly possible to devise a more | ||
| convenient form of token that would be cheaper to produce, lighter to carry and easier to handle. | ||
| 15 | No country does it, however. Instead, all use coins for small change and notes for larger transactions. | |
| Vet it would not be very difficult for a competent advertising agency to devise a campaign to | ||
| try to persuade us to switch to little plastic cards, or whatever, instead of coins. Look at the way | ||
| the credit card companies try to get us to use their products. Aside from the usual appeal to | ||
| snobbery, there would be the hygiene and safety angles: the little plastic somethings wouldn't | ||
| 20 | harbour germs or stick in babies' throats. | |
| Indeed, on any normal economic grounds there would be a great deal of sense in trying to | ||
| wean people away from expensive metal coinage. But it is not going to happen for the very | ||
| simple reason that metal coins have for so long been a symbol of civilization that no country is | ||
| going to dare dump them. | ||
| 25 | There are other examples of human irrationality when it comes to ideas of value: diamonds | |
| and gold are both priced far above their present economic worth, and show little sign of being | ||
| exposed. But metal coins stand out. | ||
| So when other newer inventions of the financial world, like the cheque (replaced by electronic | ||
| transfers), and the overdraft (replaced by loans) wither away, metal coins will surely survive ... as | ||
| 30 | the new £1 coin serves to remind us. | |
| Paul Keel in The Guardian Weekly, May 1, 1983 |