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A 1933 UK shilling 1956 Elizabeth II UK shilling showing English and Scottish reverses. The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or one-twentieth of a pound before being phased out during the 1960s ...
The British shilling, abbreviated "1s" or "1/-", was a unit of currency and a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1 ⁄ 20 of one pound, or twelve pence.It was first minted in the reign of Henry VII as the testoon, and became known as the shilling, from the Old English scilling, [1] sometime in the mid-16th century.
In about 675 the gold shilling was superseded by the silver penning, or penny, amongst the Anglo-Saxons, and this would remain the principal English monetary denomination until the mid-14th century, during the Late Medieval period. Early silver pennies were typically decorated with geometric or pictorial designs, occasionally having the name of ...
Others, such as mark and dollar, would be more associated with various foreign currencies by contemporary Scots. Some British coins later had explicitly Scottish reverses: for example the shilling appeared with either English or Scottish royal arms as reverses from 1937 to 1970, while its replacement the 5p coin had a crowned thistle from 1971 ...
According to 19th century sources, it was initially equivalent to 100 pence, but after the Norman Conquest (1066), it was worth 160 pence (13 shillings and 4 pence), two-thirds of a pound sterling. [4] [5] [6] In Scotland, the merk Scots was a silver coin, issued first in 1570 and afterwards in 1663.
The English shilling was a silver coin of the Kingdom of England, when first introduced known as the testoon. A shilling was worth twelve pence , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] and there were 20 shillings to the pound sterling . [ 3 ]
In 1858, pounds, shillings, and pence were abolished in favour of dollars and cents, and the nickname sou began to be used for the 1¢ coin, but the term un trente-sous for a 25¢ coin has endured. [8] In the vernacular Quebec French sous and cennes are also frequently used to refer to money in general, especially small amounts.
Originally valued at six shillings, it was composed of 108 grains (6.99828 grams) of gold with a purity of 23 carats and 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 grains (or 23 + 7 ⁄ 8 carats) [7] [8] – and more recently (minted between 1849-1967 although circulating alongside the decimal ten pence coin until 1993 when it was withdrawn due to a resizing) relating to a ...