British Money – pre-decimal (pre-1971)

 

Britain used a system of pounds, shillings and pence, with coins representing various quantities of each, as follows:

1 Pound: not a coin before 1817 (then as the gold ‘sovereign’) – paper notes in values of 1, 5, 10, etc. were used and represented 240 silver pennies (pence): 1 pound (£1)= 20 shillings = 240 pence

1 guinea (coin, originally made from gold of the Guinea coast of Africa) = 21 shillings (1 pound + 1 shilling)

1 crown (coin) = 5 shillings = 1/4 pound

1 half-crown (coin) = 2 shillings and 6 pence (stopped in 1970)

1 florin (a beautiful medieval English silver coin) = 2 shillings

1 shilling (coin) = 12 pence (1s)

1 sixpence (silver coin; later called a 'tanner') = 6 pence

1 threepence or threp’ny bit = 3 pence (in some places called "thrupence")

1 penny (a copper coin) = one of the basic units (1d)

1 half penny (copper coin) = (pronounced "hay-p-ny"; (to 1969)

1 farthing (lowest value coin, a ‘fourth-thing’) = 1/4 penny (to 1956)