When Is 50p Worth £3.25?

Anyone looking at this blipfoto who's under the age of 40 may wonder what on earth is folded up inside this gold pendant.  Most British people over 50 might recognise its red-brown print as a "ten bob note" (or 10 shillings) - the equivalent of 50 pence in new money.  When I was a child, you considered yourself very lucky indeed to be given 10/- as a birthday gift - it seemed like a fortune.  I was given the gold pendant in around 1969, not long before the UK decimalised its currency.  I can remember having lessons in school in 1970 about decimalisation, and every household in the land was issued with a currency converter chart prior to "Decimal Day" on 15th February 1971 to help with working out what the old money was worth in the new currency.  The 10/- note was withdrawn from circulation in November 1970, just prior to full decimalisation.  I've looked up what a genuine 10/- note would be worth in the collectors' market now, and you can buy one for about £3.25 from an authorised dealer.

Interestingly, the green £1 note remained in circulation for many years following decimalisation, only finally being withdrawn in 1988 after being used side-by-side with the £1 coin for five years.  In 1983, through my work on BBC Radio programmes, I met the Bank of England's Chief Cashier whose signature was the last to appear on the £1 note.  His name was D H F (David) Somerset, and I recorded him at his office inside the Bank talking to us about the new £1 coin which was then just about to be launched.  The programme was called "The Birth of an Old Lady" (the Bank's nickname is the the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street), and it followed the story of the Bank of England from its beginnings in the late 1600's.  Sadly the programme is now very likely to have been wiped.  Mr Somerset wrote to me at the BBC in 1984, thanking me for letting him know of the repeat date for the programme, and my extra photo is an image of his letter.  I have a crisp £5 note bearing his signature tucked away in the back of the picture frame.  In my research for this blip, I learnt that D H F Somerset passed away at the end of October last year at the age of 84.  I met him twice, and both times he showed an unexpected warmth of character for a senior figure working in such an old-fashioned and traditional environment as the Bank of England.

Well, my Throwback Thursday Week 2 blip has developed into quite an epic, but full of many different personal memories for me - thanks to KangaZu for hosting.