Tales from Oz: Historical Currency

As an American, there are bits of Commonwealth history with which I’m unfamiliar. Some British and Australian historical dramas mention money I’ve never understood. For example, in the BBC’s “House of Elliot,” they got an order for 2 dozen outfits at 12 guineas each. What the heck is a guinea?

So, I did a bit of online research. Prior to “Decimal Day” in the UK and Ireland on 15 February 1971, the old currency of pounds, shillings and pence was used.

One pound= 20 shillings.
One pound= 240 pence.
One shilling = 12 pence.
One guinea= 21 shillings.

Pence were denoted by the letter d for the Latin denarius, and is now referred to as “old pence.” Shillings were denoted by s for the Latin solidus. The nickname for a shilling is a bob. A price expressed as 1/3d meant one shilling and three pence.

1915 War Loan poster. Image from Library of Congress.

A guinea was a gold coin which was removed from circulation in 1816. However, the name guinea continued to be used to indicate the amount of 21 shillings. Apparently the guinea had an “aristocratic overtone” and professional fees and payment for land, horses, art, bespoke tailoring, furniture and other luxury items were often quoted in guineas in the UK and Australia until decimalisation.

Calculating money in base 12 and base 20 was more complicated than decimal currency (base 10), and tourists were sometimes confused by prices and the coinage.

So, Australia switched to decimal currency on 14 February 1966, and the UK and Ireland switched on 15 February 1971.

The Australian pound had been in use since 1910, though it was officially distinct in value from the pound sterling since 1931. Australia chose the name dollar for their new currency, with one dollar equalling 100 cents.

Image from the Museum of Australian Currency Notes

The UK kept the names pounds and pence, but with new values. One pound equals 100 pence. The new pence were denoted by the new symbol of p. Finally, quid, the slang term for a pound is from pre-decimal days, but is still used today.