£sd to £.p
Enter an amount in pounds, shillings and pence. Leave a box empty if there are none. Pence can include fractions, like 7 1/4.
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£.p to £sd
Enter an amount in decimal pounds, such as 63.43. A fraction such as 1/3 works too.
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How old money worked
Until Decimal Day, Monday 15 February 1971, British money was counted in three units. The letters £sd stand for the Latin librae, solidi and denarii: pounds, shillings and pence.
Twelve pence made a shilling.
Twenty shillings made a pound.
So a pound held 240 pence. Every sum on this page hangs on that number.
Coins and notes
| Coin or note | Old value | Decimal value |
|---|---|---|
| Farthing | ¼d | about 0.10p |
| Halfpenny ('ha'penny') | ½d | about 0.21p |
| Penny | 1d | about 0.42p |
| Threepenny bit | 3d | 1.25p |
| Sixpence ('tanner') | 6d | 2.5p |
| Shilling ('bob') | 1s | 5p |
| Florin | 2s | 10p |
| Half crown | 2s 6d | 12.5p |
| Crown | 5s | 25p |
| Ten shilling note ('ten bob') | 10s | 50p |
| Pound ('quid') | £1 (20s) | £1.00 |
| Guinea | £1 1s | £1.05 |
Worth knowing
Why some amounts never end
240 divides neatly by 3, but 10 does not. So 6s 8d, which is exactly a third of a pound, becomes £0.3333… in decimal and never stops. The line over a digit means it repeats for ever. The exact fraction is shown as well, so nothing is lost.
One new penny is 2.4 old pence
A pound is 240d or 100p, so 1p is 2.4d. That is why converting a decimal price back gives fractions of a penny, and why old money reached down to the farthing, a quarter of a penny.
Rounding comes last
The sums use exact fractions and round only at the final step, so small errors cannot pile up on the way. Half a penny or more rounds up. Old money is rounded to the nearest whole penny, and the details also show the nearest farthing.
What was a guinea?
A guinea was 21 shillings, or £1.05 in decimal. It stopped being a coin long before 1971, but professional fees, horses and fine tailoring were priced in guineas for years afterwards.