15th February 1971

[zabado]

Before that date we had Pounds,shillings & pence. (£. s. d.).
If pound = £
shilling = s
why the "d" for pence ,surely it should have been "p".

[dotty.]

it was d for the denarius word that's latin,

[bibblebub]

from the Latin denarius

[boxtops]

from the Latin: Libra, solidii, denari (or similar) = £ s d

[Fibonacci]

full explanation of £ s d here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A3sd

[jno]

denarius is sitll in use in some countries, including Arabic ones, as 'dinar'

[zabado]

So denarius means penny.I've had a few bottles of Miller genuine draft so I'll have to go and spend a denarius. Thanks guys.

[zabado]

Just a thought.... Two shillings & sixpence (2/6) was also known as half-a-dollar.Therefore twice that, five shilling (5/-) was known as a dollar.Now if there were twenty shillings to the pound that would make 4 x five shillings in a pound, does that mean there were four U.S. dollars ($) to the pound ?.

[bibblebub]

yes that was the exchange rate ages ago for a while

[dotty.]

it wasn't really a dollar, teddy boys and spiv types started using the slang 'dollar' to sound 'ard

[mike11111]

As has been said already, for a long time the exchange rate was $4 to the £. The phrases half-a-dollar and dollar may have originated with spivs but they were common parlance in the 50s/early 60s. The one I remember is the word "kick" for 6d, as in "one and a kick" meaning 1/6d.

[ABerrant]

Between 1791 and 1949 the USD - GBP exchange rate tended to fluctuate between $4 and $5 per £.

The US Civil War and the following decade saw exchange rates hovering around $6 and $7 and at a point during 1862 the rate was a fantastic $10 per £ ($1 = a florin or two bob bit).

During the 50s and 60s (i.e. after Britain devalued the Pound in 1949) the rate was around $3 per £ and hit $2 in the mid-70s.

[sandyRoe]

Does anyone remember using 'Sprassey' for sixpence? Or 'Make' for a half penny?

[zabado]

What about "a tanner " for a sixpence.

[ladyalex]

Never heard of the sprassey one, but my granny used to talk about 'makes' for halfpennies...

[jno]

yes, tanner for sixpence. Half a crown for 2/6 though I never saw a crown.

[ABerrant]

... not even commemorative crowns (Coronation, Festival of Britain, Churchill)?

[Mosaic]

The 'd' was short for denarius, like the £ sign is a fancy form of 'L' and is short for 'libris' (or close to that) - both latin.
here's a useful article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny

[Mosaic]

Apol's did not notice that Sir Leonardo of Pisa had answered this beforehand.

[boxtops]

zabado, I never heard 2/6 called half a dollar - 2/6 was half a crown, 5 shillings was a crown, not a dollar. I was brought up with this currency so I remember it well.

[jno]

ABerrant, no, such issues were rare and not in circulation, as far as I know (certainly not circulating into my possession). Nor did I ever hear 5/- referred to as a crown. I did occasionally hear half a crown called half a dollar by people who wanted to sound cosmopolitan.