Skills

Making Change In Shillings And Pence

FieldMoney (UK)
Went Obsolete15th February 1971
Made Obsolete ByDecimalisation
Knowledge AssumedThe 12 and 20 times table
When usefulVisiting 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.