Wartime Money

The coins used during the war were different from those used today.

On 15^th February 1971, decimal currency was introduced into the United Kingdom and a range of new coins was introduced.

Up until 1971, British money was made up of pence, shillings and pounds. There were 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound.

During the war the coins and notes used were,

Coin	Written as:	Common name	Decimal equivalent	Comparing the purchasing power 1939 - 2000 ¹
Farthing	¹/₄d	Farthing	less than ¹/₈p	£0.05
Halfpenny	¹/₂d	Ha’penny	less than ¹/₄p	£0.10
Penny	1d	Penny	less than ¹/₂p	£0.21
Three pence	3d	Thrup’nny bit	1¹/₄p	£0.62
Six pence	6d	Tanner	2¹/₂p	£1.24
Shilling	1s or 1/-	Bob	5p	£2.49
Florin	2s or 2/-	Two bob bit	10p	£4.97
Half a crown	2s 6d or 2/6	Half a crown	12½p	£6.22
Ten shilling note	10s or 10/-	Ten bob note	50p	£24.88
Pound note	£1	Pound	100p or £1.00	£49.75

Though guineas were not in circulation, prices were often written in guineas:

	Written as:	Common name	Decimal equivalent	Comparing the purchasing power 1939 - 2000 ¹
Guinea	1 Gn or £1 1s or £1/1s or 21s	Guinea	105p or £1.05	£52.24

Half Penny 1941 One Penny 1939

Some items compared

²Data obtained from Daily Mail Centenary CD-ROM.

Two Shillings (Florin) 1939 Silver Three Pence coin 1940