" OUR COINS."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—An article with this title in the Spectator of the 12th inst. advocates several changes in our system of tokens, and especially the introduction of a gold five-shilling piece, and that of a 20. piece, or " tenth " (of a florin), as a step towards decimal coinage, of which the great want is recognized. But the first of these changes, if it would not quite counteract the second, would at any rate do away with much of its good effect ; for the crown, being the quarter of the pound, is essentially anti-decimal. When we are going to bring about that devoutly-to-be-wished consummation —decimal coinage—would it not be better to have a gold four- shilling piece, the fifth of a pound ? This, besides being a rational part of the decimal system, would be almost exactly equal in value to the five-franc piece, so much used on the Continent.
The article asks, too, why our pennies and half-pennies should not be made much smaller, and the difference between their real and their nominal value still more increased ? Will you allow ins to suggest an answer—because of the danger of forgery—and to ask another question? Could we not get rid of this danger by using an alloy of silver, and so have our pennies and half-pennies of a more convenient size and weight without their being too
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