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

Florin: Leeds Museums & Galleries

Quid: Wikipedia