Shilling Did You Mean Shilling?

Before decimalisation in 1971, a shilling had a value of 12d (old pence), and was equal to 1/20th of a pound: there were 240 (old) pence to the pound. Post-decimalisation, "shilling" refers to the 5p coin, which is still worth 1/20th of a pound, because there are 100 new pence in a pound.

The name shilling is believed to come from old Scandinavian skilling, meaning a division, or a mark on a stick.

The abbreviation for shilling is "s", from the Latin solidus, the name of a Roman coin. Often it was written informally with a slash i.e. "1/6", 1 shilling, 6 pence or when there were no pence, with a slash then a hyphen i.e. "11/-".

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth II shillings were minted featuring both the English "three lions", technically three leopards couchant, coat of arms, and the Scottish "lion rampant" coat of arms (see illustration above).

A slang name for a shilling was a bob (which was invariant in the plural, as in "that cost me two bob").

Withdrawal

The last shillings issued for circulation were dated 1966, although proofs were issued as part of a collectors' set dated 1970. From 1968 new decimal coins, "five new pence" with the same weight and specifications, started to replace shillings. They were withdrawn in 1990, when a new, smaller, 5p coin was produced.

Irish shillings

Ireland, the shilling was issued as "scilling" in Irish language. They had kept the original 12d value on their shilling. It was issued until 1969, and after 1971, like Britain, the general public often used a shilling to pay 5p to shops, etc. When the Central Bank of Ireland issued a smaller 5p piece, the shilling was demonetised in 1992. They remain, like all obsolete Irish coinage, redeemable at the central bank.

Australian Shillings

The Australian Shillings were first issued in 1910, with the Australian Coat of Arms on the reverse and King Edward VII on the face. The Coat of Arms design was retained through the reign of King George V until a new ram's head design was introduced for the coins of George VI. This design continued until the last year of issue in 1963. In 1966 Australia's currency was decimalised and the shilling was replaced by a 10 cent coin, where 10 shillings made up one Australian Dollar.

The slang term for a shilling coin in Australia was "deener". The slang term for a shilling as currency unit was "bob", the same as in the United Kingdom.

Other countries' shillings

British Empire, the shilling was once used on every inhabited continent. This 2-shilling piece was minted for British West Africa.

Shillings were also issued in New Zealand before decimalisation in the 1960s, in Austria (schillings) until the advent of the euro, in the Scandinavian countries (skilding) until the Scandinavian Monetary Union of 1873, and in the City of Hamburg. Shillings remain the name of the basic currency units of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, where the East Africa Shilling was in use during colonial times, although the local shillings now all have different values.

The Sol (later the sou), both also derived from the Roman Solidus, were the equivalent coins in France, while the (Nuevo) Sol (PEN) remains the currency of Peru (although in that case, it may simply be the Spanish word for sun; it replaced the inti, which means "sun" in Quechua).

Other meanings

Shilling is also a fraudulent way of bidding in an auction. See the shill article for more information.

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