Reply #5: Well, "pound sterling" hasn't been able to buy a pound of sterling

[Art_from_Ark]

for hundreds of years. Even in the days of King George III, for example, it took only 4 troy ounces of silver to make a "pound sterling" (12 troy ounces in one troy pound). And the currency was debased back in the 1920s when gold disappeared from circulation, and again in the 1940s when the last bit of silver was removed from British coins. The latter occurred at about the same time that the Empire lost India, so it was probably a tremendous shock back then. But the name "pound" has persisted to this day, making it a "living" relic linking the British people with their past.