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Whether "pound" or "pounds" was used depended upon the speaker, varying with class, region and context. 1/– (one shilling), colloquially "a bob"; the slash sign derives from the older style of a long s for "solidus", which is also one name for the sign itself; the '–' is used in place of '0', meaning "zero pence". [12] [13] 11d. (elevenpence)
The Great Bullion Famine and the Great Slump of the mid-15th century resulted in another reduction in the English penny to 12 grains sterling silver (0.719 g fine silver) and the introduction of a new half-angel gold coin of 40 grains (2.578 g), worth 1 ⁄ 6 th pound or 40 pence. [46] The gold-silver ratio rose again to 40 × 0.719 ⁄ 2.578 ...
The origin of £/, s, and d were the Latin terms Libra, meaning a pound weight (with the £ sign developing as an elaborate L), solidus (pl. solidi), 20 of which made up one Libra, and denarius (pl. denarii), 240 of which made up one Libra with 12 being equal to one solidus. These terms and divisions of currency were in use from the 7th century.
(Prior to decimalisation the pound was divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 [old] pence; thus, there were 240 [old] pence to the pound.) The pound remained as Britain's currency unit after decimalisation (unlike in many other British commonwealth countries, which dropped the pound upon decimalisation by introducing dollars or new units worth ...
Prior to 1971, the United Kingdom had been using the pounds, shillings, and pence currency system. Decimalisation was announced by Chancellor James Callaghan on 1 March 1966; one pound would be subdivided into 100 pence, instead of 240 pence as previously was the case. [9] This required new coins to be minted, to replace the pre-decimal ones.
The history of money is the development over time of systems for the exchange of goods ... thought to equal the purchasing power of 10 modern British Pound Sterling ...
Before Decimal Day in 1971, sterling used the Carolingian monetary system , under which the largest unit was a pound (£) divisible into 20 shillings (s), each of 12 pence (d). The pre-decimal penny was demonetised on 1 September 1971, just over six months after decimalisation, and replaced (in effect) by the decimal half new penny , with + 1 ...
The English penny (plural "pence"), originally a coin of 1.3 to 1.5 grams (0.042 to 0.048 troy ounces; 0.046 to 0.053 ounces) pure silver, was introduced c. 785 by King Offa of Mercia. These coins were similar in size and weight to the continental deniers of the period and to the Anglo-Saxon sceats which had preceded it.