18th Century Money Values are generally expressed as . . . £.s.d., or else l.s.d., as in £12 10s. 6d. or twelve pounds, ten shillings and sixpence. The pound sign stands for Libra, a pound weight in Latin s. is an abbreviation for shilling in English (or solidus in Latin) d. stands for denarius or denarii (a Roman coin). You will also find references to . . . guineas of varying value (this value could change depending on the quality of the coinage in use) marks (13 shillings and 4 pence) nobles (6 shillings and 8 pence) Five, two, one and half guinea coins were made of gold and were introduced after the recoinage of 1696 Crowns, half crowns, six pence, three pence, two pence and penny coins were silver. Farthings and halfpence were made from copper. Beyond these coins a range of foreign currency was in circulation, including . . . pieces of eight ducats dollars The Bank of England introduced £10 and £15 notes from 1759, and notes of higher denominations later in the century. Throughout the eighteenth-century the supply of coinage and currency remained a significant problem. Clipping and counterfeiting were particularly common and seen as particularly heinous in the period leading up to the great recoinage of the 1690s. Many men and women appeared at the Old Bailey charged with these offences. Even after this period, however, currency fraud of one kind continued to exercise the criminal justice system. The rapid development of bills of exchange and paper banknotes was particularly associated with the rise of forgery and numerous cases of this sort can be found in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey The general lack of coins also encouraged the use of trade tokens. Pounds, shillings and pence were the basic currency of Britain until the change to decimalisation in 1971, having a consistent relationship of . . . 2 farthings to a halfpenny [ha’penny] 4 farthings to a penny 3 pennies to threepence [thrupp’nce, a joey, thrupenny bit] 6 pennies to sixpence [tanner or ‘half a bob’] 12 pence to the shilling [a bob] 2 shillings to a florin [florin, two bob bit] 2 shillings and sixpence to a half crown [half a dollar] 5 shillings to a crown [a dollar] 10 shillings to a ten shilling note [ten bob note, a half nicker] 20 shillings to the pound [a nicker] And remember, the bible doesn't say money is the root of all evil! Slan Henry 21 shillings to a guinea [a spade] --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.659 / Virus Database: 423 - Release Date: 15/04/2004