COINS ain't what they used to be! For one thing, the decimalised stuff doesn't lend itself to nicknames or catchy nursery jingles.

My dear old friend Miss Edith Carter, now 90 but as bright as a button, writes to make the point.

She recalls the days of her long-gone childhood, piping away at 'Sing a Song of Sixpence.' But, as she makes plain, how could anyone write an updated song about its monetary equivalent, 2p? Just doesn't have the same ring about it, somehow.

Edith, from Mill Lane, Sutton, is not a fan of modern currency. Decimalisation, she protests, only added to the cost of living by rounding up prices and increasing inflation.

For a while, old money co-existed with the upstart decimal stuff until the Royal Mint got its act in order. This was the only glimpse that today's younger generation had of the old Imperial stuff. The traditional old shilling masqueraded for a while as a 5p coin, while the two-shilling piece (better known as a florin) was given a 10p exchange rate.

"People had so much affection for the old coins that they invented nicknames for them. The shilling was a bob (a nickname coined back in 1811), the sixpenny piece a tanner and the threepenny bit a dodger.

Even the humble halfpenny had a pet name. It was sometimes referred to as a mec from 1781. "And in all that time," says Edith, "no-one had the faintest idea why." More commonly the name was shortened to ha'penny.

Half-a-crown was the impressive nickname given to a coin worth two shillings and sixpence (12p) Alternatively, it was called half-a-dollar.

And all this early stuff certainly had mega purchasing power! For Edith recalls getting a generous helping from the local chipshop for a ha'penny; and a ha'porth of toffee was enough to satisfy any young sweet tooth.

"We played games like Shove Ha'penny, and celebrated our money in rhyme, chanting in the streets 'Rule Britannia, two tanners make a bob; three tanners 18-pence and four make two bob.'"

One of the most popular nursery songs was 'Sing a Song of Sixpence' and old currency drifted into many other sides of Lancashire life. Such as when two drunks might square up and say 'I'll gi' thee a fourpenny one!' meaning 'I'm about to blacken your eye.'

Yes, sighs Miss Edith, the old humble copper and silver coins are now gone, but the memories of them remain golden.