10 June 2021

Old Money

I occasionally read stuff that references old money. While I am very grateful to Project Britain for their explanation, I find it hard to hold onto the information because it jumps all around. While stuck in quarantine, I made a list based on the Project Britain page so that it would stick better in my head.

The list is in order of how many pennies each unit is worth
   e.g. a farthing is a quarter of a penny

'Slang' terms are in quotes
   e.g. coppers is slang for pennies

(Other useful non-penny unit) breakdowns are in parentheses
  e.g. a crown is worth 5 shillings or a quarter of a pound

[Abbreviation] terms are in brackets
  e.g. d stands for denarius

The UNITS in all caps are the ones used in writing prices and sums
  e.g. 1l.2s.5d.

The list uses a fixed-width font so that the pennies align

Viola

farthing        0.25d
halfpenny       0.5d
PENNY d.        1d  'copper' [denarius]
half groat      2d 
threepence      3d (0.25s) 'joey'
groat           4d
sixpence        6d (0.5s) 'tanner'
SHILLING s.    12d   'bob'  [solidus]
florin         24d   '2 bob bit'
1/2 crown      30d (2.5s)
crown          60d (5s=0.25l) 'dollar'
1/2 sovereign 120d (10s=0.5l)
1/2 guinea    126d (10.5s)
POUND l.      240d (20s) ** [libra] 
guinea g.     252d (21s)

  ** £coin='sovereign'  £note='quid'


Photo credit

Quid: Wikipedia

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