Old British Coin Names
OLD BRITISH PEOPLE, can you give a list of Pound, shilling, crown, guinea, etc?
I would like to know all those old coins’ names and their respective values to each other. Right down to the farthing. Of course I could google it myself, but somebody should earn 10 points here. Right?
I think the amounts were based on 20, 16 and 10??
Scrooge paid Cratchit, his clerk, 15 bob a week, and he gave a boy ‘half a crown’. Were there coins for thruppence and tuppence?
Pre-decimalisation, the pound was divided into 240 pence rather than 100, though it was rarely expressed in this way. Rather it was expressed in terms of pounds, shillings and pence, where:
£1 = 20 shillings (20s).
1 shilling = 12 pence (12d).
Thus: £1 = 240 pence. The penny was further subdivided at various times, though these divisions vanished as inflation made them irrelevant:
1 penny = 2 halfpennies and (earlier) 4 farthings (half-farthing, third-farthing, and quarter-farthing coins were actually minted in the late 1800s, but circulated only in certain British colonies and not in the UK itself).
Using the example of five shillings and sixpence, the standard ways of writing shillings and pence were:
5s 6d
5/6 (see below for the / mark)
5/- for 5 shillings only, with the dash to stand for zero pennies.
The sum of 5/6 would be spoken as “five shillings and sixpence” or “five and six”.
Denominations of pre-decimal coins and their years of production:
(These are denominations of British, or earlier English, coins—Scottish coins had different values.)
Five Guineas (originally 100/- [£5], later 105/- [£5.25]) 1668–1753.
Five Pounds (100/- [£5]) (Gold) 1826–1990.
Triple Unite (60/- [£3]) 1642–1644.
Fifty Shillings (50/- [£2.5]) 1656.
Two Guineas (42/- [£2.1]) 1664–1753.
Two Pounds (40/- [£2]) 1823–1937.
Rose Ryal (30/- [£1.5]) 1604–1625.
Guinea (21/- [£1.05]) 1663–1799, 1813
Broad (20/- [£1]) 1656.
Sovereign (20/- [£1]) 1489–1604; 1817–1937, since 1957 a bullion coin.
Laurel (20/- [£1]) 1619–1644?
Unite (20/- [£1]) 1604–1619; 1649–1662.
Spur Ryal (15/- [£0.75]) 1604–1625.
Half guinea (10/6 [£0.525]) 1669–1813.
Half sovereign (10/- [£0.5]) 1544–1553; 1603–1604; 1817–1937, since 1980 a bullion coin.
Double Crown (10/- [£0.5]) 1604–1619; 1625–1662.
Halfpound (10/- [£0.5]) 1559–1602; 1642–1644
Half Unite (10/- [£0.5]) 1642–1643.
Half laurel (10/- [£0.5]) 1619–1625.
Rose Noble or Ryal (10/- [£0.5], 15/- [£0.75] from 1553) 1464–1470, 1487, 1553–1603.
Third guinea (7/- [£0.35]) 1797–1813.
Noble (6/8 [£0.3333], raised to 8/4 [£0.4167] in 1464) 1344–1464.
Angel (6/8 [£0.3333]) 1461–1643.
Florin or Double Leopard (6/- [£0.3]) 1344. Demonetised within 1 year.
Quarter guinea (5/3 [£0.2625]) 1718, 1762.
Crown (5/- [£0.25]) 1526–1965
Crown of the Rose (4/6 [£0.225]) 1526–1551.
Double florin (4/- [£0.2]), 1887–1890.
Half Noble (3/4 [£0.1667], increased to 4/2 [£0.2083] in 1464); minted 1346–1438.
Half Angel (3/4 [£0.1667], later 5/6 [£0.275]), 1470–1619.
Half Florin or Leopard (3/- [£0.15]) 1344. Extremely rare.
Half crown (2/6 [£0.125]), 1526–1969.
Quarter Angel (2/- [£0.1]), 1547–1600. Gold.
Florin (2/- [£0.1]), 1848–1970, circulated until 1993 as the old Ten Pence coin.
Gold penny (1/8 [£0.0833] – 2/- [£0.1]) 1257–1265. Gold. Undervalued for its metal content and extremely rare.
Quarter Noble (1/8 [£0.0833]), 1344–1470.
Quarter Florin or Helm (1/6 [£0.075]), 1344. Gold coin demonetised within 1 year.
Shilling (1/- [£0.05]), 1502–1970, circulated until 1990 as the old Five Pence coin.
Sixpence (6d [£0.025]), 1547–1970
Groat (4d [£0.0167]) silver 1279–1662, 1836–1862 (and thereafter only for Maundy)
Threepence (3d [£0.0125]), silver 1547–1945 (and thereafter only for Maundy), nickel-brass 1937–1970
Half Groat (2d [£0.0083]), 1351–1662
Twopence (2d [£0.0083]), silver (inc. Maundy) 1668–current; copper 1797–1798.
Three Halfpence (1½d [£0.0063]), 1561–1582, 1834–1870 *
Penny (1d [£0.0042]), 757–1970
Three Farthings (0.75d [£0.0031]), 1561–1582.
Halfpenny (0.5d [£0.0021]), 1272–1969
Farthing (0.25d [£0.00104167]), c. 1200–1960
Half farthing (0.125d [£0.00052083]), 1828–1868 *
Third farthing (0.08333d [£0.0003472]) 1827–1913 *
Quarter farthing (0.0625d [£0.00026]), 1839–1868 *
Mire (0.04166d), dates unknown
Note: * = denomination issued for use in the colonies, usually in Ceylon, Malta, or the West Indies, but normally counted as part of the British coinage.
The medieval florin, half florin, and quarter florin were gold coins intended to circulate in Europe as well as in England and were valued as much more than the Victorian and later florin and double florin. The medieval florins were withdrawn within a year because they contained insufficient gold for their face value and thus were unacceptable to merchants.
Night In London(1967)O My Love-Tujh mein Mujhmein Farak na Rahe!
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