British 10p question

ajaan

Can the older, larger British 10p coins be turned in? Or are they no es bueno?

SaorAlba

The short answer is yes. Even predecimal coins can be redeemed, but it is an involved process and if you don't have enough of them it probably isn't worth the effort necessary. Shilling and florin coins continued to circulate alongside the larger 5p and 10p coins until the larger coins were replaced with the downsized coins.

ajaan

Redeemed at a bank? My son's girl friend is in the UK and I'm thinking of giving them to him to give to her the next time he visits. I only have GBP 15.50 worth so not enough to mail.

JBK

I know at the retail level they are no good - I saw a tube station cashier refuse someone's old "new pence" coins. I had also heard that the larger 50 p coins were worthless. Perhaps there is a way to cash them in (Bank of England?) but as a practical matter I think they have no monetary value. The Brits are ruthless when it comes to demonetizing old coins.

BillDugan1959

You can google these questions, don't you know?

The answer is that the British Royal Mint WILL honor demonetized old coins, even predecimal coins, but they only deal directly with the top level of retail banks and NOT directly with the general public.

Not all banks deal in it, but the process is that you deposit the demonetized coins ito an existing bank account with a retail bank that offers this service. The bank you are dealing with MAY (they are allowed) to charge you a service fee on the transaction.

Not impossible, but there are a lot of hoops to jump through. Likely NOT worth it in most small instances.

If you want to see ruthless in action, just try and cash in your old demonitized Fifth Republic franc denominated coins (after 1959) in France. The French used to demonetize stuff regularly long before the adoption of the Euro, and their alum-bronze large-sized ten franc coins issued from 1974 to 1985 used to be worth two U.S. dollars back when two dollars could still purchase something in Paris.