Old British coins explained: pounds, shillings and pence
Twelve pence to a shilling, twenty shillings to a pound, and a florin is two shillings. What the pre-decimal coins were, and which of them are silver.
In the Buck index
1 Shilling - George V (4th type)United Kingdom · 1927–1936 · Silver (.500)$5.56 to $11.72
1 Penny - Victoria (3rd portrait)United Kingdom · 1895–1901 · Bronze$0.47 to $5.35
5 Pounds, Winston Churchill (Polymer)United Kingdom · 2016–2026 · Polymer$6.78 to $6.92
Before 15 February 1971, British money ran on a system that had been in place since Anglo Saxon times: twelve pence to a shilling, twenty shillings to a pound. Two hundred and forty pence made a pound, which is why the arithmetic in old novels is so hard to follow.
The abbreviations are Latin: £sd, from librae, solidi and denarii.
The coins
| Coin | Value | Slang |
|---|---|---|
| Farthing | ¼d | |
| Halfpenny | ½d | ha'penny |
| Penny | 1d | copper |
| Threepence | 3d | thruppence |
| Sixpence | 6d | tanner |
| Shilling | 12d | bob |
| Florin | 2 shillings | two bob |
| Half crown | 2s 6d | half a dollar |
| Crown | 5 shillings | |
| Sovereign | 20 shillings, gold | quid |
| Guinea | 21 shillings |
The guinea survived as a unit of account long after the coin stopped being struck, which is why horses and art are still auctioned in guineas in some places.
Which ones are silver
The date matters more than the denomination.
- Before 1920: sterling, 92.5% silver.
- 1920 to 1946: 50% silver, debased after the war.
- 1947 onwards: copper-nickel, no silver at all.
So a 1936 shilling is half silver and a 1948 shilling is none. Pennies, halfpennies and farthings were always bronze; threepences after 1937 were brass and twelve-sided.
Buck prices a typical George V shilling at about $5.56 to $11.72, most of which is the silver and a small collector premium.
Decimal day
On 15 February 1971 the pound was divided into 100 new pence. The shilling and florin stayed legal tender as 5p and 10p because they were the same size, and they circulated alongside decimal coins into the early 1990s. The half crown was demonetised in 1969, the penny and threepence in 1971.
A pre-decimal coin found in change today is not spendable, but it is not worthless either.
Paper money is a separate question
Withdrawn Bank of England notes can still be exchanged at the Bank of England itself, at face value, with no deadline. That applies to the old paper fivers and tenners replaced by polymer, and to notes going back much further. It does not apply to Scottish or Northern Irish issues, which are handled by their issuing banks.
A collectable old note can be worth well more than its face, so it is worth checking the value before walking into Threadneedle Street with it.
What is actually rare
Very little of it. Pre-decimal coins were struck in enormous numbers and saved in tins by almost every household in the country. The genuinely valuable pieces are early milled silver, gold sovereigns, and specific low-mintage dates such as the 1933 penny, of which about seven exist.
A tin of shillings and florins is worth its silver, and that is not nothing: a few dozen pre-1947 coins add up to real money at current spot.
