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Two shillings and sixpence (half a crown, or an eighth of a £) was written as '2/6', rarely as '2s 6d' ('d' being the abbreviation for denarius, a penny). The shilling itself was equal to twelve pence. In the traditional pounds, shillings and pence system, there were 20 shillings per pound and 12 pence per shilling, making 240 pence in a pound.
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. It circulated until 1990.
Under this system, there were 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings, or 240 pence, in a pound. Although the standard ledger accounting system recorded only pounds, shillings and pence, actual minted coins could represent one, several or fractions of these units.
Prior to decimalisation in 1971, there were 12 pence (written as 12d) in a shilling (written as 1s or 1/-) and 20 shillings in a pound, written as £1 (occasionally "L" was used instead of the pound sign, £). There were therefore 240 pence in a pound. For example, 2 pounds 14 shillings and 5 pence could have been written as £2 14s 5d or £2/14/5
It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally representing a value of 20 shillings in sterling specie, equal to one pound, [2] but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings. From 1717 to 1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one ...
The traditional bullion coin issued by Britain is the gold sovereign, formerly a circulating coin worth 20 shillings (or one pound) and with 0.23542 troy ounces (7.322 g) of fine gold, but now with a nominal value of one pound.
A pound = 20 shillings = 240 silver pennies (formerly) The pound sterling emerged after the adoption of the Carolingian monetary system in England c. 800. Here is a summary of changes to its value in terms of silver or gold until 1816. [46] [47]
Before this date, both the British pound sterling and the Irish pound (symbol "£") were subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 (old) pence, a total of 240 pence. With decimalisation, the pound kept its old value and name in each currency, but the shilling was abolished, and the pound was divided into 100 new pence (abbreviated to "p").