Currency with HM's picture

[albaqwerty]

also stamps.

When HM leaves this mortal coil, (personally I hope not for quite a time but that's by-the-by)

How long would it take the Mint et al to remove from circulation and replace with a picture/image of the next Monarch?

[horseshoes]

Oo that's an interesting question Alba.

[tinkerbell23]

No idea...probobly quicker than i would think...

I always wonder if anyone famous has handled the same money as me? Lol- scabby fiver...vic beckham? Probobly not!!! Hehe xx

[albaqwerty]

Horse, I do have some weird and wonderful and not so wonderful thoughts at times. However, for the sake of decency not all of them get asked on here! lol

Tinks, it'll be the 20's which will have been handled :D

[boxtops]

They don't, alba, it stays in circulation for ages. I remember having loads of King George VI money as a child, and until they were withdrawn, we were still able to spend the old Queen Victoria big old pennies.

[bibblebub]

in the 60s we would occasionally get George VI coins turning up in change

[albaqwerty]

I have vague memories of seeing an old Penny with a previous monarch on it. Can't remember who, I think it was George VI, that was in the 60's too Bibble.
We are just mature people :D

Thanks Boxy. I wondered if they did it over a 6 month period or so.

[bibblebub]

remember these http://www.swiftel.ne...VI_obverse-721640.jpg ?

[albaqwerty]

The days when money was money.....

The youngsters today turn their noses up at anything under 50p. Their loss.

Thanks for the link Bibble

[horseshoes]

I recently put a £1s worth of "old" money, pennies, halfpennies, threepenny bits, and a few farthings, on a tray and took it round to my Mums where a gang of ous have coffee on a Sunday morning. I asked everyone to guess how much there was and the answers ranged from £6 to £12. If you ever get a chance to hold £1s worth of old copper money, you'll know it's enough weight to drag your pants down if you had it in your pocket!!!

[albaqwerty]

Thrupenny piece, I liked them. That was my pocket money once upon atime

[Jonathan-Joe]

Yes, it's true that in the past coins remained in circulation a long time, so that you could use one with Victoria's head right up to their withdrawal on decimalisation. This was possible because the specification of each value coin changed very little over the years.
However, since decimalisation, there has been a greater readiness to withdraw old and issue new versions of coins (the 5p and 10p pieces were replaced early 90s and there are suggestions that another replacement is on its way). My guess is that the Royal Mint will start to issue coins bearing Charles' head to the current specification soon after he becomes King (I'm sure they have planned for this) but older coins of QE II will remain legal tender. If a new version of a particular coin is planned, they will probably wait and issue Charles coins in due course, withdrawing the QE II equivalents.
It is possible that the arrival of a new monarch may prompt the Mint / Government to abolish the 1p and 2p coins, which now have little value.
I guess that it is much easier to introduce new versions of stamps, so we would see Charles on these very quickly. Again, the Royal Mail will have some plans already.

[Jonathan-Joe]

I wondered what happened for Edward VIII, who was King for less than a year. It seems that this was not enough time to issue new currency - "Only a handful of test coins were struck before the abdication" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII. Even if there was time, older coins would have remained in circulation.

[spudqueen]

It will be the same with stamps I would think. I would imagine that there is already a draft design for stamps (and notes and coins!), so it probably wouldn't take long to print some new ones. However I'm sure that any with Queen Elizabeth II head on would still be valid. At the moment any stamps since decimalisation are valid, and I don't see any reason why that would change.

[albaqwerty]

Many thanks for your replies. Very kind of you.