I would add, however, that “pence” is the plural of “penny” and thus is not used for 1p or its fractionals.

To satisfy tahrey’s curiosity, the abbreviations £/s/d stand for “libra”, “solidus”, and “denarius”, respectively.

also, my kingdom for an edit button!

4 farthings = 1 pence
12 pence = 1 shilling (48 farthings)
20 shillings = 1 pound (240 pence, 960 farthings)
1 pound 1 shilling = 1 guinea

It was nothing if not flexible, and has similarities in various ways to binary and the base-60 organisation of time (with a common root in 12, and divisions/factors of it). A lot of old counting systems were divided this way rather than decimally as it made simple divisions by 2, 3, 4, (5,) 6, etc a whole lot easier, and though the multiplication mathematics may seem tricky at first, its a piece of cake when you memorise a few times-tables (same as binary )

Not sure why the weights and measures system is organised differently though! Something that cost you a pound (or a shilling) for a pound weight would be difficult to pay for with a certain number of shillings (or pence) if you only wanted an ounce (1/16th)… and no word on if there was ever a larger measure of currency than the pound – admittedly a huge sum at the time (1 victorian pound = about £500 today) e.g. the stone

Many of the coinage conventions and slang words carried over for quite a while following decimalisation in the 70s, where things were rationalised for familiarity somewhat, using the 20s = £1 approach, such that an unofficial shilling was now 5p not 12d. I’ve come variously into contact with some old coins recieved accidentally in change, and e.g. the old half penny is a good match for a modern 2p, florins for (old, large) 10p’s, shillings for 5p’s, so on and so forth… these have seemingly only gone out of use in the last 10-15 years, probably because they were being hung onto by people of my grandmother’s age and older.

Strangely, though the 1 + 2p are the only surviving ‘copper’ coins, matching the old scheme, a 50p (eg half sovereign) is silver, not gold, and a pound coin is considerably weightier than the old sovereigns, possibly due to not being made out of gold, but mostly a tin alloy plated with gilt.

It was the first gold coin, and the Pound Sovereign officially “replaced” it in the nineteenth century.

[...] The British monetary system, demystified, in which I provide a chart to explain the old system of pounds, groats, and farthings. [...]