Talk:Shilling

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On a Danish discusion-forum link title I found a reference to this article, refering to the fact that the shilling wasn't issued untill 1548. I will not question that, but only remark that, to my knowledge the shilling was used as a figure many hundred years before that - but only as a way of counting prices (which would then be paid in the only "real" coin - the penny). I am sorry, but I do not have any links support this - do anyone know if I am right?

Well - if I am, then this article might confuse people to think that the concept of the shilling only existed after 1548, which would be misleading.

I've added the note about the alternate (modern) meaing of the phrase "to take the King's shilling" and updated the description of the phrase to "cut someone off without a shilling" to make use of the present tense. I'm under 30, from Scotland (although I now live in London) and am very familer with these phrases and regard them as being in current usage, particularly in Scotland (though I would estimate they are more commonly used by older members of population). I'm not sure how common they are across the rest of the country though, both phrases do seem, anecdotally, to have dropped out of current usage in southern England. FridayUK 02:46, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question

I don't think it's mentioned on this article, but how many shillings equal US$1?

US$1 equals £0.57 (57p) at the moment, so that makes it 11.4 shillings in US$1. MJSchofield 17:12, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

You are using a modern exchange rate for a defunct currency unit. It would be equally accurate to say that as, for most of the 19th and earlier twentieth century £1 = $4, therefore $1 = 5/- (I am old enough to have been taught how to write amounts in "old money" at school). 5 shillings was sometimes nicknamed a dollar.

"11.4 shillings", never! There were never decimal divisions of a shilling. 57p = 11/5d (approximately). TiffaF 15:21, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

The Oxford English Dictionary entry makes quite clear that "shilling" is a very old appellation for coins of various denominations. From the sixth century onwards, a Gothic cognate was used in rendering the Latin term "solidus." Coins called shillings were in use on the Continent and among the Germanic kingdoms in Britain, including Mercia and Wessex, with varying values. With the Norman Invasion, the coin called shilling came to denote rather uniformly 12d., i.e. 1/20th of a pound sterling (See OED) On the Continent, in the Holy Roman Empire, the coin, though of often widely different value, was often considered 2/3 of a Rhenish guilder/gulden.

I am interested in the exchange rate in late 19th century and early 20th. I made User:Chochopk/Latin Monetary Union unit, and according to various calculation on the precious metal, 1 GBP = 4.3 - 5 USD. So this question is for TiffaF: Is there a source on your number? --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 08:36, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

http://eh.net/hmit/exchangerates/pound.php list the rate as fluctuating between £1 = US$3.62 (1812) and US$6.48 (1869) between 1900 and 1940, but mostly around US$4.70 or US$4.80 (US$1 = 4/2½d).

Under the Bretton Woods system, £1 = US$ 4.03 from 1945 to 1949

My grandparents generation remember $1 = US$4, from before the days of floating exchange rates, but most of the period 1800-1940, a rate of £1 = US$4 may have overvalued the US$. TiffaF 16:12, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Shillings and Marks

Does anybody know how many shillings were in a Mark, or where I could find such a conversion? I'm trying to make a conversion from Elizabethan England. Thanks 193.1.172.138 13:29, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Per my recollection and Mark (money), 160d. (two-thirds of a point or 13 shillings and fourpence). I think it's confused on the Scots Merk though. Angus McLellan (Talk) 14:21, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a million, Angus. That figure fits in perfectly with the figure of 13s 4d which I got later. I never heard of a 'point' so I'll keep an eye out for that now. Thanks again. 193.1.172.138 15:51, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Oops, two-thirds of a pound. Sorry. Angus McLellan (Talk) 23:45, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

This page isn't that great, i apologize. I feel horrible about it too.