£sd Trivia Quiz

The guinea was a coin that contained roughly a quarter troy ounce of gold and was minted for about 150 years until 1814. It took its name after the African region of Guinea where the gold used to come from. The guinea was nominally worth 21 shilling, in other words a pound sterling and a shilling. It was originally worth 20 shillings but changes in the relative value of gold to silver resulted in a change in the official value.

The guinea was replaced as legal tender in 1816 by the gold sovereign, but the term continued to be used as a unit of account, such as in invoicing for professional services. Post-decimalisation, the guinea was mostly used in horse racing, greyhound racing and in the pricing of some works of art. In some horse auctions, the buyer paid the guinea price as pounds to the seller with the 5% difference (the 21st shilling) being paid as the auctioneer's commission.

The sovereign replaced the guinea in the Great Recoinage of 1816, which was an attempt to stabilise the UK currency following Britain's financing of opposition forces and its own military costs during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.

The half sovereign was a gold coin with a nominal value of half a pound sterling (50 pence in decimal coinage) issued in 1817. Henry VIII in fact introduced the coin in 1544 although this issue was discontinued in the early 17th century. The modern half sovereign was minted until 1926. Special issues continued until 1980, for example for coronations. Since then, the Royal Mint has produced them for sale to collectors but not for circulation.

The crown was a silver-coloured coin worth a quarter of a pound sterling, in other words five shillings. The silver crown was the UK equivalent of the Spanish piece of eight (or dollar) and has been around since 1551 during Edward VI's reign. Pre-decimal crowns minted since 1818 remain legal tender with a decimal value of 25 pence. The silver content was reduced from 92.5% to 50% in 1920 and disappeared altogether from 1947.

Crowns lived on after decimalisation as commemorative coins. Four commemorative 25 pence coins (also called crowns) were issued between 1972 and 1981. It cost too much to produce as a 25 pence piece, so the new commemorative crowns issued from 1990 changed to having a face value of five pounds sterling. To confuse things, a gold quarter sovereign (with a 25 pence face value) was introduced in 2009 for collectors.

The half-crown had a pre-decimal face value of two shillings and six pence (or 'two and six'), equivalent to 12.5 new pence. The half-crown started off as a gold coin in 1526 during Henry VIII's reign. Just silver half-crowns were minted from the reign of Charles I with the last half crown issued in 1967 (with no silver content). It was demonetised in 1970.

The florin was a two-shilling coin, worth a tenth of a pound sterling. It was issued for circulation between 1849 and 1967 with a final collector's issue in 1970. It continued to circulate post-decimalisation with the same value as the ten-pence coin until 1993 when the florin was demonetised.

The shilling coin was worth one-twentieth of a pound sterling or twelve pre-decimal pennies (post-decimalisation, equivalent to five new pence). First issued at the beginning of the 16th century as the testoon, its name changed to the shilling at some point during that century. It continued to be used until 1990 with the last minting in 1966. Post-decimalisation coins issued of equivalent value and size were marked 'five new pence' until 1980 when the 'new' was removed.

As mentioned earlier, a shilling was made up of twelve old pennies. A sixpence was therefore half a shilling (or 2.5 new pence). Also known as a tanner, it was minted from 1551 until withdrawn from circulation in 1980. The Royal Mint started minting a commemoration decimal sixpence from 2016.

This was made of silver, had a face value of 6 pence and was legal tender (although not intended for circulation). This helped meet the demand for a sixpence in various cultural traditions such as mixing in a silver sixpence for luck when making a Christmas pudding.

The groat was a silver coin first issued in England by Edward I (1272-1307) and was worth fourpence. There were Irish and Scottish versions, although later Scottish versions were worth eightpence or a shilling. The groat was last minted for general UK circulation in 1856 although a colonial variety was minted in 1888, which remained in circulation in British Guiana until 1955.

Groats continued to be issued post-decimalisation as part of Maundy coinage. Maundy coinage started as symbolic alms given out ceremoniously by a royal official during a religious service on Maundy Thursday. Made from silver, technically they were still legal tender but tend to be bought by coin collectors for their numismatic value.

The penny has been used in both the pre-decimal and post-decimal systems in the UK. The abbreviation for the pre-decimal penny was 'd.', a nod to the Carolingian denarius (introduced by Charlemagne) from which the penny was derived. Twelve old pennies were equivalent to a shilling and, with 20 shillings in a pound, there were 240 old pennies in a pound.

This contrasted with the decimal penny (abbreviation 'p.') which had 100 new pennies in a pound.

The farthing was a coin worth a quarter of an old penny. The name literally means 'a fourth'. The first such coins were minted in England during the 13th century, replacing the practice of cutting pennies into quarters to make change. Initially made of silver, copper and then bronze were later used. Farthings were last issued in 1956.

There was also a brief period during the 19th century when quarter farthings and half farthings made from copper were produced exclusively for British Ceylon. The half farthings were made legal tender in the UK from 1842 to 1869, the year in which all British copper coins were demonetised.