The oldest currency that is still in use is the British Pound. The British Pound has been in use for almost 1200 years. This currency developed at the time of Anglo-Saxon times, after which there have been many changes in the currency. Back then, British Pound didn’t use to look like today’s time. Apart from being the oldest currency, British Pound is one of the most traded currencies in the whole world. British Pound stands at the fourth position in the list of most traded currencies after US Dollar, Euro, and Japanese Yen.
Origin of the British Pound
Around the time of 775AD, the process of buying and selling was done through silver pennies. In the year 1853, printed notes were introduced. In 1694, there used to be half-printed notes with the sign of ‘£’ on them and the first digit of the number. The Bank Of England issued these notes. After the first digit, extra digits have to be added by hand, and also, it has to be signed by one of the cashiers. Nowadays, banknotes are converted through these partial notes.
The appearance of the British Pound
Each Pound, such as five, ten, twenty, and fifty, has its size and color. The largest size is that of the largest value note. Apart from notes, there are coins too, such as 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, and last but not least, £1. Here the symbol ‘p’ denotes penny. All the coins have the image of Queen Elizabeth second on them. The very first note which has the picture of Elizabeth is 1 pound in the year 1960.
During the second world war, the British Economy was suffering from a lot of threats. To overcome this, the Bank of England started embedding metal threads in banknotes in 1940. Moreover, the Pound is not only used in the UK but also Isle of Man, Falkland, Saint Helena, South Georgia, Jersey, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha.
Certain Changes in Currency
In 2017, on March 28, the Bank of England introduced a newly built 12-sided £1 as the last one pound coin lost its legal tender status. After this, the bank decided to convert paper notes into plastic notes. Apart from plastic, polymer notes have also been introduced in the year 2016. As we compare the paper notes with polymer notes, the polymer has more durability, is more real, and can stay clean for a long time. But, there were rumors that polymer is taken out from animal fat.
This was all about the oldest currency in the world. The British Pound is a very famous currency, the oldest and one of the most traded currencies in the world. There are a lot of changes that happened in this currency. Also, it has gone through the situation of legal tender too.
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