The earliest coinage of Britain consisted of small, cast pieces of speculum, a brittle bronze alloy with 20 percent tin. These coins copied the bronze of Massilia (Marseille) of the 2nd century bce and circulated, mainly in southeastern Britain, early in the 1st century bce their relationship with contemporary iron currency bars is uncertain. There are many different pictures on the £1 coin to reflect the different countries of Britain: lions for England, a thistle for Scotland and a leek for Wales. The coin on the left shows the three lions of England. The slang term for pound is quid.
In the British system, there are so many different denominations andnames for coins that one could easily become confused as to their relativevalues. This page hopes to clarify some of the more basic relationships.
The smallest denomination is a farthing. The next larger unit is a penny, or pence in the plural. Situated between these two units of currency is the most common small change coin of the colonial period, a halfpenny. Two farthings equals a halfpenny and two halfpence equal one penny.
The shilling, equal to twelve pence, becomes the common base for thelarger denominations. A crown equals five shillings. Situated between these two units is the half crown equal to two shillings and six pence. During colonial times the value of an item was often expressed in crowns.
In the Seventeenth century (less so in the Eighteenth century) the British refered to a mark. This did not represent a coin but rather it was a unit of account equal to 13s4d (160d) or two-thirds of a Unite Laurel Pound, which was valued at 20s (240d).
The next higher basic unit is the pound, in later times also called aquid, which equals twenty shillings (or four crowns). A gold sovereign is equivalent to a pound, while a gold guinea is worth one shilling more (twenty-one shillings).
Three of these denominations may be abbreviated to make the notationof monetary amounts simpler. Pounds may be expressed using the symbol '£'derived from the word 'libra' which is Latin for pound. Shillings areabbreviated with an 's,' (which comes from the roman coin the solidus which equalled twelve denarii) while pence are shown with a 'd Novomatic online casino free play. ' for denarius (which was a small denomination roman coin). For example, three pounds six shillings and three pence would be noted as £3 6s3d. Fractions of 1/2d and 1/4d were used to designate a halfpenny and a farthing.
The following chart shows the relationships in numeric form:
1 Gold Guinea = £1 1s = 21s = 252d
1 Gold Sovereign = £1 = 20s = 240d
1 Pound = £1 = 20s = 240d
1 Mark = 13s4d = 160d
1 Crown = 5s = 60d
1 Shilling = 1s = 12d
1 Sixpence = 6d
1 Threepence = 3d
1 Penny = 1d
1 Halfpence = 1/2d = 2 farthings
1 Farthing = 1/4d
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English Coins Penny
English Coins Worth
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