scottishmoney

I have been reading various accounts of whether Scotland would become a republic or retain QEI as monarch. As a part time resident of Balmoral I wonder if she will vote?

Rather interesting, but whence I was in Paris just before the intro to the Euro the money changers were actually giving more favourable exchange rates for Scottish notes than BoE notes - because the Scots banks cleared the funds a day quicker than BoE. Northern Ireland banks were given a less favourable rate of exchange vs. English and Scottish notes. Back in history Scottish banknotes were much more reliable than their English counterparts. Banks being stabilised by the joint stock banking system were a help, bank failures in Scotland were the exception rather than the rule. It was not Scottish banks that necessitated the Banking Act 0f 1844, but rather English banks. Bank failures in England were rife, even in the late 19th century. Scotland had a mere one catastrophic bank failure - City of Glasgow Bank in 1878. Ordinarily when a bank in Scotland was on the skids another bank stepped in and bought them out or merged. When Renfrewshire Bank was sequestered in the early 1840s it's notes were slowly and surely paid out - I owned one that had dividend stamps over a period of a couple of years. Which is why you find so few 19th century Scottish banknotes in collections now - they were paid out and destroyed, rather unlike English provincial banks - the number of which you can find for a pittance still.

I't be a fair bit of Anglish booty e'en for a Scotty! I like wee bodles meself.

GVF, one I would buy an' enjoys myself.

I rather think all the commotion down in Westminster and the last minute offers of greater autonomy etc are a driving force behind the growth in the polls of the yes vote. It has been right interesting watching the whole dustup on the BBC.

Not pretty, but a rare coin that I only paid a couple of quid for:

Well done you, you must be proud, but i do believe a Scottish coin did hold that record back in the 1970s, a 1576 £20 piece, bought by Spinks The crazy part of the £ 20 piece is that there are enough of them around that anybody with the means can own one. I own a rarer piece, but one with less interest than the former, but it is still fairly pricey.

James II:

Charles II 1/2d:

Limerick 1/2d: The reversed N variety.

Right now the two priciest coins I still have in my possession are British, rather Scottish. And both are made of gold.

Not possible in Britain what with all the changes in coin sizes etc, but just last week I found the oldest coin ever in a coin roll search of coins from the bank - an 1858 Flying Eagle cent, well worn and a bit corroded - but 156 years old! The week previous I found two dimes in a coin machine reject slot at the bank - an 1898 and an 1899. It must have been great to get Victorian pennies in change back in the 1960s, but as evidenced - in the USA if you look enough like I do you will still find older coins hiding here and theres.

At least Scotland leaving the UK, in the unlikely event that happens, will be less of a civil distraction than what is going on in Ukraine now. All those places in the news, particularly Donets'k are my old stomping grounds.

Curiously I found a 1951 penny in a job lot of several hundred pennies from GV-QEII. It must have slipped into circulation in Britain.

That statement is very true. By example look at the Quebec question in Canada. Twice independence from Canada has come up for a vote and lost. But the acrimony has lingered long after the voting queues dissipated. What the Quebecois didn't factor in was new immigration patterns into Canada that saw many new citizens coming in from Asia, Europe etc that are demonstrably more loyal to Canada than some unfamiliar foreign power. The changing demographics has seen many native English speakers leave Quebec over the last 30-40 years, which you would think would favour the French speaking Quebecois - but immigration has offset the loss of native English speakers with non-native English speakers loyal to Canada. I really do not believe that Scotland is going to leave the UK - but I certainly haven't a doubt that the acrimony over the whole matter will last for years and years. "Crikes, wha the hay aire we gonna duo?"

From what I am hearing from there it is a few hundred "political tourists" with different accents, pronouncing G as gah instead of hah like Ukrainian Russian speakers do. Probably underemployed Russian nationals doing Pooties dirty work. The thousands of protesters that were clogging the streets are gone now - somehow having up to 80k Russian soldiers on the border changed their opinion of becoming a part of Russia. Ukraine just implemented a visa regime for Russian nationals crossing into Ukraine, no doubt the "political tourists" had something to do with that.

From my friends in Donets'k(former Ukraine) Donchane! British brothers! A decisive moment! ONLY YOU DECIDE WHERE TO LIVE YOUR CHILDREN, and in what language they will speak! As you know, Yuzivka ("Donetsk") native English town, founded by the great industrialist Englishman - John Hughes. For over a hundred years Russian deceived us, it primordially Russian city, and the Ukrainians - that Ukrainian! We demand a referendum on the return to their original Yuzovka bosom - a part of Great Britain!Glory to John Hughes and his town! God save the Queen!http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/?4??6?, _? 4?? 4?? 4?? 6? _? 4? .. Дончане! Братья-англичане! Наступил решающий момент! ТОЛЬКО ТЕБЕ РЕШАТЬ, ГДЕ БУДУТ ЖИТЬ ТВОИ ДЕТИ, И НА КАКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ ОНИ БУДУТ ГОВОРИТЬ! Как известно, Юзовка ("Донецк") исконно английский город, основанный великим промышленником-англичаниным - Джоном Юзом. На протяжении более сотни лет русские обманывали нас, что это исконно-русский город, а украинцы - что украинский! Мы требуем референдума по возвращению Юзовки в своё исконное лоно - в состав Великой Британии! Слава Джону Юзу и его городу! Боже, храни Королеву! http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/?4??6?,_?4??4??4??6?_?4?..

Perhaps the Donald Trump would like to contribute to better roads in Scotland.

Look at albeit a much smaller nation, Nauru - they became independent ca. 1970 when they were still mining phosphate, they put all the money in the bank, invested it, bought an airline and some buildings in Australia thinking they were going to be self sufficient later on. But the investments tanked, the money in the bank dried up to pay expenses and the nation went bankrupt. Now Nauru relies on foreign aid again, and has no prospect of ever being self sufficient again. Sure the UAE is spending litigious sums on capital investments and sovereign wealth funds. But not so sure even spreading their proverbial eggs out will do the trick. You really cannot replace mineral or manufacturing generated self sufficiency with service type industries in the long run.

King Alexander IV?

That dorf should go work for RBS or Northern Rock.

Deliberate innuendo.

I suppose Mel Gibson is now a historical figure - it seems ages since he made a film It has been ages since he has been mentally competent enough to complete a film. Curiously enough he doesn't live but a few hundred metres from Britney Spears and Justin Bieber. Must be something in the water.