Fractional units

[canadacoin]

1/2 Shekel, Israel

[canadacoin]

Half cent USA
Half kopek Imperial Russia
Quarter kopek Imperial Russia
Hal Kopek USSR

[Figleaf]

2½ Gulden 1960, Netherlands. Neither a slash nor a dash in the denomination...

Peter

[davidrj]

a British Halfpenny 1863

[davidrj]

1/13 of a Shilling from Jersey

[davidrj]

A strange way of presenting half a Real - 5/10 - Buenos Aires - Argentina 1827

[davidrj]

2/3 Batzen from the Swiss Canton of Schywz

[Pabitra]

The images of new 1/4 dinar, that I have, exceed the limit of this forum

[davidrj]

A Half Tanga from Portuguese India, 1901

[mrbadexample]

1/13 of a Shilling from Jersey

What's the story behind this one David? I wasn't aware of there being 13 pence in a shilling? 

[davidrj]

What's the story behind this one David? I wasn't aware of there being 13 pence in a shilling? 

This can be traced to back to the act of September 18, 1834. This act decreed that English money would be the sole legal tender in Jersey.  At that time, 26 French livres were equal to one English pound.  With 20 shillings to the pound and 20 sous to the livre, one shilling was worth 26 sous.  Thus the Jersey penny or pièce de deux sous became 1/13th of a shilling, the Jersey half penny or sou 1/26th of a shilling, and the farthing or pièce de deux liards 1/52nd of a shilling. see http://www.jerseycoins.com/pen13/pen13.htm

There were similar oddities with the currency of Guernsey and the Isle of Man, neither equating with the Pound Sterling prior to this time

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernsey_pound and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_pound

David

[mrbadexample]

Thanks David, interesting reading.

[Figleaf]

The same can be said for all denominations on British-issued coins in fractions and denominations that look odd in British eyes. They are actually a reflection of the fact that people use another currency than British pounds, while the British policy was to let them all use British currency. That battle was mostly lost, except on the surrounding islands, but it left some very interesting coins. Some examples:

Guernsey - the French double Tournois
Jersey - the French livre
Isle of Man - the Irish shilling
Cyprus - the Turkish piaster
Malta - the coinage of the two Sicilies
Gambia - the French 5 francs
India - the Calcutta rupee
Straits Settlements - the Spanish colonial peso
Mauritius and the Seychelles - the French Franc
Canada - the US dollar
Newfoundland - the Spanish colonial peso
Essequibo and Demerara - the Dutch gulden

Even denominations that looked at least somewhat familiar in the home countries could be used as a local denomination, e.g. the fourpence in the Caribbean.

Peter

[davidrj]

Interesting summation Peter.  We could add the Dutch rix dollar and stuiver in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to that list

David

[Pabitra]

Turkey 2 1/2 Kurus