UBS makes Mega's day

[Mega]

".......could fall to $1.05"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/c...UBS-warns.html

Let it be!
Mike

[thunderdownunder]

Re: UBS makes Mega's day

And in reflection.

What is a Pound - when finished reading you have my permission to get good and Drunk, throw up and pass out.

The original measure of value in France, England, and Scotland, was the pound weight of silver bullion. No coin however of this actual weight was ever struck. But the pound weight of silver bullion was cut into 240 pieces called pence. Twelve of these pence were called a shilling or solidus; and therefore 20 shillings, or solidi, made a Pound. These 240 pence actually weighed a pound of bullion.

Now let us denote the pound weight of metal in the form of bullion by the symbol - lb., and the pound weight of metal in the form of Coin by the symbol - £. Then we have -

240 pence = 20 shillings = £1 = 1 lb.

Now it is perfectly clear that if the pound weight of bullion were divided into a greater number of pieces than 240, that greater number would still be equal to the pound weight; and if we denoted by the symbol, £, 240 pieces or pence, irrespective of their weight, we should have the 1 lb. equal to £1 + the number of pieces above 240.

Now this is what has been done in the Coinages of all the three countries above mentioned. The Sovereigns of these countries were frequently in want of money to pursue their various extravagances; and as they could not make more money, they adopted the fraudulent and surreptitious plan of cutting the pound weight of bullion into a greater number of pieces, but they still called them by the same name. By this means they gained an illusory augmentation of wealth. As they could not multiply the quantity of the metal, they at various periods falsified the certificate. While they still called their Coins by the same name, they diminished the quantity of bullion in them: and so coined more than the original number of pence out of a pound weight of bullion.

The consequence of this was very manifest. As 240 pence were still called a pound, or £, in money, whatever their weight was, and as more than 240 pence were coined out of a pound weight of bullion, the £, or pound of money in coin, began to vary from the lb., or pound weight of bullion. Edward I. began this evil practice in 1300, when he coined 243 pence out of the pound weight of bullion. Subsequent Sovereigns followed the same evil example; and this falsification of the certificate increased till in the time of Elizabeth no less than 744 pence, or 62 shillings, were coined out of the pound weight of bullion. Then we have manifestly -

744 pence = 62 shillings = £3 2s. = 1 lb.

As there are 12 ounces in the pound weight of bullion it is seen that each ounce was coined into 62 pence, and hence as the value of bullion is measured by the ounce, the Mint Price of silver was said to be 5s. 2c?. the ounce.

Afterwards gold was coined as money concurrently with silver; and gold pieces were struck and made to pass current as nearly as could be done at the value corresponding to the market value of gold and silver. Thus there was for a considerable time a double standard. In the reign of Charles II., the African Company brought home a large quantity of gold from the Guinea coast. He had it coined into pieces called guineas, which were intended to represent the £, or twenty shillings in silver. But the Mint rating did not agree with the relative value of gold and silver in the market of the world, and consequently the value of the guineas in the market never corresponded with their value as rated by the Mint. In 1717 Sir Isaac Newton the Master of the Mint reported to Parliament that the true value of the guinea according to the relative market value of gold and silver at that time was 20s. 8d. A Royal proclamation however was issued declaring them to be current at 21s.; and then in the language of the Mint the price of gold was fixed at 31. 17s. 10 1/2d. an ounce.

Gold and silver coin were then made unlimited legal tender for debts of any amount. But as gold was overrated by 4c?. in the £, and silver was underrated by 4c?. in the £, Gresham's Law acted, and in the course of the century, merchants universally adopted the custom of paying their debts in gold as the cheapest medium, and the silver coinage was exported, as being depressed below its true value in this country. Gold therefore gradually became to be considered as the measure of value in England.

In 1816 this custom was adopted as law, and gold was declared to be the only legal measure of value; and the Pound, the legal tender, or measure of value, became the equivalent in gold of 20s. in silver.

Forty pounds weight of standard gold bullion by the regulations of the English mint are cut into 1,869 Pounds or Sovereigns, or the 1 lb. weight of bullion is cut into 46Z. 14s. 6d.: or as the value of gold is estimated by the ounce, the Mint Price of gold is fixed at 3l . 17s. 10 1/2d. per ounce, and, as long as the Coins are ordered to be coined of the same weight, the Mint Price cannot vary.

The legal weight of a Sovereign or Pound, is 5 dwts. 3 1/6 7/2 1/3 grns. containing 113 1/623 grns. of fine gold. Sovereigns which fall below 5 dwts. 2 3/4 grns.; and half Sovereigns of less that 2 dwts. 13 1/2 grns. cease to be legal tender.

In former times Gold and Silver money were equally legal tender to any amount: and their relative values were fixed by Law: but Gold and Silver vary in their value with respect to each other in the market of the world: and consequently even though they may be rated truly at one time by the Mint, yet in course of time their value according to the Mint regulations is sure to get out of adjustment with their value in the open market; and by Gresham's law, the one that is underrated with respect to the other disappears from circulation, and gives rise to great inconvenience. Locke, therefore, in 1694, pointed out that a nation should adopt only one metal as the legal measure of value, and make any other that may be used subsidiary. This principle was adopted as Law in 1816; gold coin was declared the only legal tender to an unlimited amount, and the silver and copper coins were intended only as small change for the Gold Coin. The coinage of Gold is free to the public; but the coinage of silver and bronze is retained by the Government. In order to prevent the effect of Gresham's Law, the value of the silver coin is artificially raised. Instead of 62 shillings being coined out of the pound weight of silver as before 1816, 66 shillings are now coined out of it: but 4 of these are kept back for the expenses of coinage. The Sovereign however is declared to be of the value of twenty of these shillings, which are thus artificially increased in value about 6 per cent. In order to prevent injustice being done, Silver Coins are not legal tender for any sum above 40s. it having been intended to make the double Sovereign the Monetary Unit.

The Bronze coins are only worth about one fourth of their nominal value; and pence and half pence are only legal tender to the amount of one shilling, and farthings to the amount of 6d.