Written the old way: £1/2/6£sd → decimal (1971)
£1 2s 6d at the 1971 changeover
£1.12½
Exactly, in new pence
- Written as
- £1 2s 6d or £1/2/6
- In old pence
- 270d
- In guineas
- 1 guinea and 1s 6d
Drawer VI · Old money
Old money: pounds, shillings and pence
Turn £sd into decimal at the rate fixed for Decimal Day, 15 February 1971, or decimal back into old money. Then add up guineas, crowns, half-crowns, florins and farthings.
Written the old way: £1/8/6Total
1 × guinea + 2 × half-crowns + 1 × florin + 6 × pennies
£1 8s 6d
- At the 1971 changeover
- £1.42½
- In old pence
- 342d
Pounds, shillings and pence
Before 1971 a pound was 20 shillings and a shilling was 12 pence, so a pound held 240 pence; a farthing was a quarter of a penny. Amounts were written £1 2s 6d, or with slashes, £1/2/6, and 17s 6d as 17/6. Some coins had their own names: a crown was 5 shillings, a half-crown 2s 6d and a florin 2 shillings, one tenth of a pound. A guinea was valued at 21 shillings from 1717.
On 15 February 1971 the pound was split into 100 new pence. A shilling became exactly 5p and a florin 10p; a penny was 5⁄12 of a new penny, so only amounts in sixpences convert to a whole or half new penny. For other amounts the converter shows the exact fraction as well as the nearest penny.
To get a feel for what a sum could buy at the time, The National Archives' currency converter covers the years 1270 to 2017.
Questions
How do I read an amount like 17/6?
As 17 shillings and 6 pence. The slash separates shillings from pence and a dash stands for none, so 5/- is five shillings and £2/-/6 is two pounds and sixpence.
Is this what my old money is worth today?
No. It is the face value at the 1971 changeover. Old coins can be worth more to collectors for their metal or rarity, and old sums were worth far more in what they could buy.
What is a guinea in decimal money?
£1.05: 21 shillings, at 5p a shilling.
Sources
- Royal Mint Museum, Decimalisation: Decimal Day on Monday 15 February 1971, a pound of 20 shillings or 240 pence, new pence, and the 5p and 10p matching the shilling and florin in value.
- Royal Mint Museum, Shilling (12 pence, the exact equivalent of 5p), Florin (one tenth of a pound, from 1849), Crown (five shillings), Halfpenny and farthing (a farthing a quarter of a penny) and Isaac Newton (the guinea reduced to 21 shillings after his report of 1717).
- The National Archives, Currency converter: 1270–2017, for what money could buy.