Marlboro Currency Converter
When Australia changed to decimal currency from pounds, shillings and pence on February 14th 1966 many organisations, banks and retailers distributed charts and tables to help ease the public through the transition. Changing from a £/s/d system to the decimal system was not an easy conversion as there were some denominations which did not have a direct replacement such as the half penny.
One example of the ingenuity of some of the businesses trading during the changeover is the converter seen above. Not content with a simple table to convert the total sum of your purchases made, the Marlboro tobacco company went that extra step further and this collectable is certainly a nifty little device.
Protruding the top of the cigarette packet shaped card are three movable cigarettes. Below this hidden in the packet design are numbers that magically change. As seen left above the converter sits at 0-0. Move the cigarettes up and 2 pence equals 2 cents (above middle), then 10 shillings equals one dollar (above right). How cool!
The reverse of this converter is a handy calendar of November 1965-October 1966.
disclaimer: smoking harms your health.
Posted by harrisk at March 18, 2011 9:48 AM
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