This is a strange question, but why aren't the weights of coins worked out proportionately with their value?

A 1p would weigh 0.1 grams, 2p would weigh 0.2 grams, 5p would weigh 0.5 grams, 10p would weigh 1 gram and so on.

This means they could simply weigh a huge pile of coins. If the coins weighed 1 kilogram, you would know there was £100, regardless of how it was made up.

Peter.

Isn't is the value out of the metal they are made out of? Or, what the value was, now that copper's more expensive (apparently), isn't the amount of copper that makes 1p worth just under 2p now?

hmm think it would be hard to differentiate between coins for thise hard of sight and stuff. however the cash counter that i used before could could coins and notes by weight, i was always impressed when it counted a bunch of £20's correctly

There's nothing stopping them altering the size, shape, thickness or texture provided they maintain the correct mass.

Peter.

Aside from having to somehow get EVERY coin in the UK back, and re-issuing the vast amounts back to people...aside from that, they could

They've done it before and there's no reason why they couldn't implement it. Am I the only person who think it makes sense?

Peter.

No, but I think you may be the only person who thinks it's worth the trouble.

Jon

It seems my idea has gone down like a lead balloon, unfortunately.

I thought it would solve quite a few issues. When I run charity fundraising events and am left in charge of counting thousands of pounds in coins, I thought it would be quite useful to be able to simply weigh the lot and know the total takings. They could buy a coin sorter, but they enjoy seeing me suffer.

Peter.

I thought you had come into some metal and were going into production.

Slot machines use weight and electrical conductivity to determine the authenticity of coins. It’s likely that the weight is necessary to get the right amount of electrical response needed to correctly identify the coin.

Coin and note sorters/counters and made of win.

It makes perfect sense.

It used to be true for coppers and for silver, but not the two mixed.

I think it's still true for coppers. I think 10p weighs the same as 2 x 5p. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work for 20p and 50p coins, but I could be wrong.

In the old days, the value of the coin was the value of the metal. That was before Satan invented paper money and inflation and credit crunches and [LIFTED].

I don't understand the modern system of money. Unfortunately, it would seem that neither do the "experts".

It is still true for coppers. If you're cashing in change banks will accept bags of mixed coppers provided they weigh the right amount but anything bigger than that has to be sorted into separate bags.

The problem as of now I'd have thought is that for some denominations - 10p is one I think - you actually have two coins in circulation. There are 'old' 10ps and 'new' 10ps and they are different sizes and I suspect a different alloy.

Jon

the coin and note counter i used to use and my old dear still does in her pub is a weight based system