Talk:Maltese lira

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I have copied the info over from the Maltese Lira page, as there was more detail here. Other currency pages have lower-case for names of currency, so this is the correct page it would seem 143.252.80.124 18:51, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

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[edit] Most valuable currency?

Is the Maltese Lira the world's most valuable currency, per unit? I am not aware of any other currency whose unit is worth more than a pound sterling.82.21.244.201 15:49, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Why don't you read the article? It says there. (Stefan2 17:06, 11 July 2007 (UTC))


[edit] Pound?

The Maltese Lira is NOT displayed as a Pound sign. British tourists who pay in Maltese Lira never refer to it as a Pound because this is often unnecessarily confusing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.158.127.162 (talk) 08:08, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reverted "merge"

I've just reverted a "merger" of this article with Maltese pound. If you have a reason for wanting this merger, please discuss it here first.
Dove1950 (talk) 13:06, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

But we usually refer to it as 1 pound or 5 pounds when talking in english.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.203.81.95 (talk) 00:51, 29 December 2007
Who is more English than BBC?
“ The 27 ministers decided that one euro would replace 0.585274 Cyprus pounds and 0.4293 Maltese lira. ”
Who is more authoritative than the Central Bank of Malta and the ECB?
“ The Malta pound, which was renamed Maltese lira (Lm) ”
--ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 17:36, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

As a Maltese I can tell you, we DO refer to is as the Maltese Pound. At least, among other Maltese people.

A quick look at the paper money reveals that the name lira was introduced after decimalization. The name pound continues to appear but only on the reverse of the banknotes. I'm happy with the current arrangement, since this represents the cheif name used on the currency.
Dove1950 (talk) 22:02, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
Certainly there were many banknotes in the 1970s with Lira/i on the obverse and Pound(s) on the reverse and which used £ or ₤, e.g. [1][2]. So my guess is that they were in fact the same currency, with a gradual change in name caused by linguistic nationalism.--Rumping (talk) 18:04, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Thinking further, it seems clear that they were names for the same currency, and that the transition was gradual: indeed it may never have been completed. So let's merge the articles, using both names in the intro, the pound in the detail before 1972 and the lira after, and use lira as the article title as the "official" name more recently. --Rumping (talk) 00:20, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Using the most prominent names on the currency, we have 240 pence = 20 shillings = 1 pound switching to 1000 mils = 100 cents = 1 lira, with 1 lira = 1 pound. The current arrangement reflects this and I don't see the need to merge. If we were to merge, what would be the unified article's name? Neither pound nor lira are all encompassing.
Dove1950 (talk) 19:43, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
I don't see the coin change as an issue; it doesn't affect the pound sterling. And rather than say 1 lira was equal to 1 pound, I think I would say they were different names for the same thing. I would be happy with the article title being Maltese lira, both mentioned prominently in the first paragraph, "pound" used up to the 1970s or so and "lira" from then on. The Central Bank of Malta talking of the coin change in 1972 says "The Malta pound, which was renamed Maltese lira (Lm) in 1983, was retained as the currency unit."[3] --Rumping (talk) 17:16, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
The quote is interesting and worth pursuing. However, it doesn't overcome the basic question, which is how can we call a currency universally referred to as the pound, the lira?
Dove1950 (talk) 19:01, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sterling area

Could anyone who knows (can cite?) when the Maltese pound/lira started floating against the pound sterling, please put it into the Sterling area article. It seems to have been 1971 or 1972.--Rumping (talk) 18:04, 29 February 2008 (UTC)