English Currency in the early 1900's?

Question

I did a fair bit of Googling and found yet no answers - I'd like a frame of reference of currency used in England, in the early 1900's. How much did a loaf of bread cost? A house? Most importantly, the reason for the inquiry - say, a fairly unknown artist had sold his painting in 1910, or so, in England. How much money would he have sold it for?

Answer 1

Currency is no longer backed by the gold standard. That was abandoned in the early 1900s during the Bretton Woods negotiations.

To answer your question: The poor country would have to use some sort of means to tie the currency to a value basis in a stronger currency. For example, some countries deliberately mark the value of their currency to the US dollar (e.g. Hong Kong) or the UK pound.

If the poor country has no manufacturing and no export commodoties, their currency value may be limited by the fact that other countries will not have the need to obtain the poor country's local currency for purchases of that country's goods/services/commodities. Richer countries tend to have stronger currencies because of their resources (commodities, goods, services) that can be acquired by that currency.

Poor countries that overprint money also tend to suffer from inflation (meaning that it takes a large denomination of their currency to buy something).