Why did England get rid of the one pound banknote?
British Currency, Pre-Decimalization or, I’ll trade you two florins and a half-crown for six shillings and sixpence Up until 1971, money in the United Kingdom was essentially broken down in to pounds, shillings, and pence, so that groovy Sly and the Family Stone album you wanted in ’70 would have had a label that looked this this: £5/15/3.* That is, five pounds, fifteen shillings, and threepence. ‘Fair enough,’ you say. ‘I can keep that straight.’ But there’s ever so much more. Witness the following chart, and realize in the depths of your soul that pre-decimalization English accountants possessed a degree of genius. Denomination on the left, value on the right: 1/4 farthing = 1/16d 1/3 farthing = 1/12d 1/2 farthing = 1/8d 1 farthing = 1/4d 1 halfpenny (ha’penny) = 1/2d 1 penny = 1d twopence = 2d threepence = 3d groat = 4d sixpence = 6d shilling(aka bob) = 1/-= 12d florin = 2/- halfcrown = 2/6d double florin = 4/- crown = 5/- noble = 80d third guinea = 6/8d ten shillings = 10/- half so
