British money question

[Strawboss]

I read a lot of books, usually historical novels and watch a lot of British TV shows. In many of these books and shows references are made concerning the money of England, old and new. After reading enough of them I think I might have an idea of the system but was wondering if anybody can fill me in on some aspects of their money and maybe the U.S. rough equivalent.

1 Quid
1 Lb
1 Lb Sterling
1 Farthing
1 Shilling
1 pence
1 Stone-weight, not money

[DC Concours]

Quid is a slang term for the British pound (£). It’s like saying "buck" for a dollar in the U.S.
U.S. Equivalence: 1 quid = 1 British pound, which is roughly $1.30 USD.

Lb (Pound), Modern Term: "Lb" is short for pound, the basic unit of currency in the UK.
Lb Sterling, Mod ter: This is another way of saying "1 pound sterling," which is the official name of the currency. "Sterling" distinguishes the British pound from other currencies also called pounds.
U.S. Equiv: 1 British pound sterling ≈ $1.30 USD.

Farthing
Historical. A farthing was a coin used in Britain until circa 1960, worth 1/4 of a penny. It was the smallest denomination of currency in the old system. U.S. equv, 1 farthing = 1/4 of a penny, so it is worth almost nothing now. Today, it would have no direct equivalent and is no longer in circulation as far as I know.

Shilling
Historical. A shilling was used in Britain before decimalization (1970s?). There were 20 shillings in a pound.
U.S. Equiv: 1 shilling was ~10-12 pence. In today's money, it would be around £0.05, or about $0.06 USD.
Other countries use a version of the shilling.

Pence
Modern and historical term: "Pence" is the plural of "penny." Before decimalization, 250?? pence made up one pound. After ~1970s(?), 100 pence make up one pound. U.S. Equiv: 1 pence today is roughly equivalent to 1.30 cents USD.

Stone weight is an odd old imperial weight measurement. I think 1 stone is US 15lb  or 20 lbs. Stupid.

All this is part of the reason we fought the British. Confusing bastards.

[maxtog]

Sidetopic:  We need to bring back the $500 and $1000 bills. 

The US got rid of all bills larger than $100 in 1969 ($500, $1000, $5,000, $10,000).  $100 in 1969 is now equivalent to $1,028! So a $1,000 bill right now would be only $98.56 back then.  Thank you, inflation.  I doubt this will happen because "save the children" or some anti-crime stuff.  It seems the plan is to just inflate away our largest bills forever... one day we will need dozens of them just to pay for dinner.

[DC Concours]

I would like to see larger bills. Many other countries have large bills. Maybe not worth much there. A 500 or 1000 bill would be nice. It's easily a common B2B denomination. With inflation it'll be common c2c as well.

[Boomer]

Lb is short for "pound" weight, not for "Pound" Sterling and comes from the Latin word "Libra".
1 Stone is 14lb. It came from using certain stones in balance-scales for local trade and was "standardised" at 14lbs in 1389 for wool trade with Florence (in modern Italy).

Coin wise we used to have -
Farthing (quarter of a Penny or "fourth-thing")
Haypny or HalfPenny
Penny (used the symbol "d" from the Roman Denarius)
Tuppence (2d)
Thruppence (3d)
Groat (4d)
Sixpence (6d or Tanner or "sixpenny bit")
Shilling, nicknamed "bob". (12d or 1s from Roman Sesterius)
Florin (2s)
Half-a-Crown (2s & 6d)
Crown (5s)

Notes were -
Half-Sovereign or Ten Shillings (10s)
Pound (or Sovereign or "Quid") (20s or £1 (the £ symbol is a fancy L)
5 Pound (£5)

The Guinea (£1 & 1s) was commonly used for gambling as the tax on gambling was 1/20 so when you bet 1 Guinea, you actually bet £1 and paid your 1s tax.
Prior to that the Guinea was a "£1" gold coin (from 1663 to 1816) whose actual value varied with the price of Gold.

Since 15th Feb 1971 we now use decimal money.
Coins are now -
1 Penny (p)
2p
5p
10p
20p
50p
£1 (100p)
£2

Notes are now -
5 Pound
10 Pound
20 Pound
50 Pound

Since most transactions for large amounts are now done electronically, there is currently no need for larger notes.
This cuts down on money laundering and other proceeds of crime transactions but also makes transactions traceable, which of course governments and Police forces love.

You fought the British because of taxation but no representation, and quite right too.
As for being confusing bastards, no argument there as we now use a mixture of Imperial and Metric measurements.
However, y'all are also still using our old stupid measurement system and you even changed it a little in the fluids area.

[DC Concours]

Wow. There's a lot more than what I was taught. Thanks boomer.

[Strawboss]

Yes, thanks, I forgot about the Crowns, Sovereigns and Guineas.

Our war against England was really a war of secession as we did not want to invade them, overthrow them, or occupy them, we simply want to govern ourselves the way we wanted. At least that's how I look at it.

 

[gPink]

Geez Boomer...give a guy an inch and he'll take a mile. 😆

[Boomer]

Yeah, a little ADHD in my character 

Britain was distracted by our on-off-on again war with France and her allies, and that gave the revolutionaries in North America the chance they needed.
It was a time of great upheaval everywhere. After Britain beat France in Canada and Europe, their finances collapsed and that resulted in the French Revolution (1789-95).

[VirginiaJim]

I remember the threepenny bit....

[Strawboss]

Yes, but I still think the term revolution is not what really happened. We didn't overthrow the King, we didn't invade, we didn't set up a new Gov't in London, we just wanted to break away, to secede, and rule ourselves, we issued a Declaration, we wanted to be independent.

[Boomer]

According to all the Dictionaries I have looked at, that is exactly what happened.
No, the King wasn't overthrown, but if he had been that would have been a British Revolution or an Invasion.

Revolution - a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system.

The Declaration of Independence was a Secession, but the war that followed to enforce that Secession was a Revolution.

[Strawboss]

The idea of what was proposed and what happened was revolutionary. The Gov't installed after was revolutionary, nothing like it had never been tried, in fact it was very close to never happening, 3 states even had a clause in the Constitution that states they would be allowed to secede from the new Gov't if the people of that state wished if I read correctly.