In February 1971, after centuries of pounds, shillings and pence, Great Britain converted to a system of decimal currency. Here is an overview of how the two systems compare.
Farthing—one-quarter of an old penny, worth one-eighth of a new penny.
Halfpenny—one half of an old penny, worth one-quarter of a new penny.
Penny—expressed as 1d (‘d’ being short for ‘denarius’, the Latin word for a small silver Roman coin) and worth a bit less than one new halfpenny. (In fact, the new halfpenny was discontinued in December 1984 as having no practical worth any more.)
Threepenny bit—equivalent to 1¼ new pence.
Sixpenny bit—equivalent to 2½ new pence.
Shilling—expressed as 1s or 1/-; it was worth 12 pennies, equivalent to 5 new pence.
Florin—expressed as 2s or 2/-, equivalent to 10 new pence.
Half-crown—expressed as 2/6, equivalent to 12½ new pence.
Crown—worth 5 shillings (25p), this coin was not in general circulation because it was too large. It continues to be minted, but only for commemorative purposes.
Pound—£1 was worth 20 shillings or 240 old pennies. The latter weighed 1 lb, which gave the denomination its name. Originally a banknote, it was converted to a coin in 1983.
Guinea—worth £1 1s, this gold coin was withdrawn from circulation in 1813 because its intrinsic value was greater than its face value. At livestock sales (and some art auctions) prices are quoted in guineas to this day.
Equivalents
It is very hard to put modern values on prices from Titanic’s day, partly because values are extremely relative. For example, a first-class crossing in a parlor suite would still seem prohibitively expensive, as would a dinner in the A La Carte Restaurant, whereas a double gin might seem incredibly cheap. As prices and purchasing power fluctuate with such volatility, it is hard and possibly misleading to attempt relative values. However, this has been attempted in a few places in the text where it seems helpful to do so.