Quote:
Originally Posted by wodin
It's a very good thing that sometime in the distant past Great Britain (England then) de-coupled the currency from the price of silver. The article said a Pound Sterling was once the actual value of a pound of silver. Let see (figger-figger), the spot price of silver is about $30 US per ounce troy, there are 20 ounces troy in a pound troy that's $600 US per pound.
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It's not so very distant. Certainly up to the early years of the 20th century at least, Britain's currency was tied to the gold standard, and a gold sovereign was worth exactly £1. Today, a gold sovereign sells for over £200, although its face value (and they are still legal tender) remains £1.