Since people might not be familiar with the pre-decimal system of British currency, here’s a quick reference guide. I’ve included all the common coins that I know about, plus common alternate names and, where I can, an idea of the value at the time. The basic units of value are the pence, valued at 1/240th of a troy pound of sterling silver, and the pound (often called a quid), referring to one troy pound of sterling silver.

Farthing
The smallest coin in British currency, it is worth one-fourth the value of a pence. It is sometimes known as a mag.

Halfpenny
Given the name, the halfpenny is obviously worth half a pence. It is sometimes shortened in pronunciation to ha’penny.

Pence
A basic coin in the predecimal system. It was worth 1/240th of a pound sterling (240 pence to a pound, instead of the decimalized hundred) and was abbreviated “d.” (from the Latin word denarius) much the same way US cents are abbreviated “¢”. Victorian pence are made from copper if minted before 1860 and from bronze if minted after. A pence in A&A times has approximately the purchasing power of a half pound in modern times. For US people, this means a pence is worth approximately the same to A&A people what a dollar is worth to us today.

Threepence
A coin worth three pence. It was often pronounced thruppence, and sometimes called a threepenny bit or a joey.

Sixpence
A coin worth six pence (shocker, hmm?). They are made from silver in the period of A&A and are known colloquially as tanners.

Shilling
A coin worth twelve pence. It is worth 1/20th of a pound sterling and was abbreviated “s.” It was also called a bob informally.

Two Shillings
A coin worth twenty-four pence or one tenth of a pound. It is called a florin most popularly, sometimes a two-bob bit, and is minted from silver. Introduced in Queen Victoria’s reign, there are two kinds of florins. The Godless Florin was a coin without the lettering DG in the inscription (DG standing for Dei Gratia, “By the Grace of God”) and was minted only a few years. The other florin is lettered in a heavy Gothic script and is known as the Gothic florin. Godless florins may be considered bad-luck pieces by the superstitious.

Half Crown
A coin worth thirty pence, or two shillings and a sixpence. It is valued at 1/8th of a pound, and is known colloquially as a half-dollar.

Crown
A coin worth five shillings, or sixty pence. It was minted from silver during the Victorian period and was called a dollar in places.

Half Sovereign
A coin valued at ten shillings, or one hundred and twenty pence.

Sovereign
A coin valued at one-pound sterling (240 pence). It is made from gold and was the most valuable common coin in Britain at the time. A pound was a week’s wage for a constable, and was worth quite a lot more in the time of A&A than it is now.

Guinea
A coin not used in general circulation anymore (at the time of A&A as well as today). However it is valued at 21 shillings and continued to be used by aristocratic people in quoting the worth of high-class items such as art and horses, and for professional fees and land payments.

Other Coins
There were other coins around, but more rare. They include:

• The five-pound coin (only ever seen by the wealthy)
• The groat (worth 4d and not in common circulation, although legal tender)
• The third farthing (worth a one twelfth of a pence, also called a grano)
• The quarter farthing (worth one sixteenth of a pence, in today’s US currency about eight cents)

How to write about pre-decimal money
This section was written by our member Rosina. :)

When writing about money, there are a few conventions to be followed:

For example it’s always thruppence three farthings, tuppence ha'pny etc, not two and a half pence (that is the way we spoke post-decimal, for various reasons). For 1d and a halfpenny, you'd say three ha'pnce.

Then when you add shillings, 1s3d is one and thruppence, three and fourpence, and similarly five and elevenpence ha'pny. Don't mention the shilling if it's followed by pence, unless you want to sound over 'correct'. If the pence element is 6 (and almost only then) the 'pence' is dropped - so 4s6p is four and six, not four and sixpence. The half-crown is worth two and six.

For simple multiples of shillings, it would be quite normal to say 'bob'. Ex: That'll be five bob, sir.

When you get onto pounds you would say Five pound six shillings or Five pound, six and fourpence. You would not use quid in such sums - that would only be used (and is rather more slangy than 'bob') for a simple multiple of pounds. Six quid!

Note: it's never 'bobs' or 'quids'.

While it's 'tuppence' 'thruppence, and 'fourpence' when speaking of money, if you are speaking of the price of something you'd use penny. For example:

A: How much are your icecreams?
B: Vanilla ones are tuppence, with chocolate they're thruppence.
A: I'll have a tuppenny one, then.