Making Change In Shillings And Pence
| Field | Money (UK) |
| Went Obsolete | 15th February 1971 |
| Made Obsolete By | Decimalisation |
| Knowledge Assumed | The 12 and 20 times table |
| When useful | Visiting one of the old "working museums" which use old coinage as a novelty, tracking down discrepancies in your grandfather's accounts, or possibly an accident with a time machine |
Prior to the introduction of decimalised currency in 1971, the UK used a system of pounds, shillings and pence. There were 12 pence in a shilling, and 20 shillings in a pound. By convention, the abbreviations were £ or l (for pounds), s (for shillings) and d (for pence, from the Latin denarius).
Prices were often written as, for example, £1/5/6 for one pound, five shillings and sixpence. A value of shillings without pence was written as, for example, 5/-.
The smallest coin you might encounter was the farthing, equal to a quarter of a penny (0.25d). There was also the half-penny or ha'penny, equal to 0.5d. Other common coins were the penny (1d), threepence (pronounced thruppence, 3d), sixpence (6d), florin (2s), half crown (2/6) and half sovereign (10s).
In the mid-20th century, the half sovereign was replaced by the ten shilling note, and in the 1960s, the farthing was removed from circulation due to its low value. There was a short transition period in the late 60s where some decimalised currency was valid at the same time as the old money; nominally, five new pence (5p) equalled one shilling (1s). Coins bearing the "5 new pence/one shilling" text were still common well into the 1980s.