IHOSE made me think of it.

I few years ago I wrote about how I missed the use of coins in everyday life. And how coins of an English nature made much better visuals in stories than say American coins.
Just a few English coins seemed ( I said seemed) to represent a lot of money in English movies and stories.
Most things seemed to be able to be purchased with what ever coins the 'gents' had in their pockets.
This of course is an over-simplification, but it did seem to be the case.
IHOSE's discussion on the Guinea Coin made me think also of another coin that is no longer around.
The Half-Penny. I remember the half-penny, and have a few pre-decimal ones as well as the newer ones. They came out of circulation in 1984.
Of course it was always the pre-decimal ones that were the best. The ones we didn't actually call a half-penny, but were always referred to as a "hayp'nny".
I know over here coins aren't used nearly as much as they once were ( a fine example of that is watching cashiers actually having to count out change ).
Ah, well. At least we don't have to wear suspenders anymore to keep our coin ladened pants up.

Well, I think it is neat to watch Holmes (Brett or anyone else) pay the cabbie in coins. Or pull a few coins out of a pocket to pay for a pint.

My mom still tells my daughter this poem;

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat
Please to put a penny in the old man's hat;
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do,
If you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you!