COINS

[Michael w6]

I live in the US. I once encountered an immigrant to the US (forget his origin) who couldn't understand why a nickel is larger than a dime but of less value. What country are you in and do larger coins have more value?

[fatmac]

Yep, we have a few larger lower valued coins here in the UK too.

[ecadre]

An odd assortment of sizes has always been the case here in Britain. The pre-decimalisation penny was huge, and the sixpence tiny. A few years ago they made the 10p, 5p smaller (rather than being size of the old shilling and florin) so that the 2p coin is larger than both, and the penny is larger than the 5p.

Originally it would have been about the metal used to make the coin (sixpences once had silver in them), but these days our coins are mostly steel, with a sheath of copper or nickel on the outside. All apart from the one pound and two pound coins, with the one pound being thicker than the 2p or 50p ... but smaller in circumference. Oh, and then there's the 20p

[an seanduine]

My family has a story concerning the old, gold coinage. The $20 gold piece was approximately the size of the quarter. In darkness and haste, an uncle in his youth gave a gold piece as partial change in lieu of a quarter, in spite of the difference in weight. Ultimately the funds were recovered.

Bob

[Katharine]

Actually, yes... in Thailand, the larger the coin, the greater the value. I never thought about that until now, but yes. (It is the same for bank notes, actually. Coming from the U.S., it seems odd to have bank notes of different sizes and colors. My Thai teacher was surprised and a bit flabbergasted when I told her American money is just all green...)

http://learnthaiwithmod.com/2012/08/thai-coins/