 "Spending a penny" was exactly that |
Coins over a hundred years old have been found inside an old "penny-in-the-slot" toilet at a Bristol museum. A total of 117 pennies were discovered during refurbishment at Blaise Castle House Museum.
They range in date from 1901 to 1967 and feature the heads or busts of five British monarchs: Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II.
David Eveleigh, the museum's curator of social history, told BBC News Online that staff were "amazed" at the discovery.
"The keys which we would have once used to empty the latches have long since disappeared, so these coins have been there since decimalisation.
"They are not worth an awful lot to collectors. But, totalling nine shillings and nine pence, would have bought you a round in 1971, when they were last in use."
The euphemism "to spend a penny" dates from 1852 when the first public toilets in a street were opened, and a charge levied.
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