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20/06/2009: "FathomOz: PYE 17" TV showing TCN9 test pattern (1956)"

Prices of a seventeen inch b&w TV set, 1956 would be similar to that of a very large flat screen today. About $4000 or more.

This PYE 17" was 207Gns. Guinea was a fancy way of saying 207 pounds PLUS 207 shillings.

A guinea was one pound and one shilling.

This common billing method for all 'upper class' transactions, i.e. medical, legal, fashion, or professional anything went out the window when we switched to using dollars in 1966 on 14th of February.

Trivia: On that night we were showing underwater skin diver shark hunting films at the Canberra Theatre with our then Prime Minister (Harold Holt) sitting in the audience. Holt was a free diver who attended the show at our invitation.

I sat outside on the steps of Parliament House the next morning while my more senior partners had tea and biscuits inside with the PM. I didn't mind at the time, although it would have been nice to have met him.