“Twelve pennies to the shilling, twenty shillings to the pound, right?” – The seventh Doctor’s drawstring purse of coins: Remembrance of the Daleks

(From top to botttom, left to right: first row features a Crown, Half a crown, and a Florin; the second row features a shilling, six pence and three pence; the third row features a penny, half a penny, and a farthing.)

…So says Ace to Sargent Mike Smith, trying to grasp 1963 English pre-decimal currency. To pay for some refreshments in Harry’s Café, the seventh Doctor gives Ace a drawstring bag of coins in episode one of “Remembrance of the Daleks”.

In 1963, the UK still had a pre-decimal system of currency, whereby twelve pennies equalled one shilling and twenty shillings equalled one English pound. The pre-decimal English coinage consisted of the following coins:

Farthing:
A Farthing was one-quarter of a penny

Half-Penny:
A half-penny was one-half of a penny

A Penny:
Worth a penny, or 1D (two pennies would be referred to as Tuppence)

Three pence:
Worth three pennies or pence, or 3D, (also known as a Thrupence, or a Thrupenny bit)

Six pence:
Worth six pennies or pence, or 6D

A Shilling:
Worth 12 pennies or pence, or 1/- (also known as a Bob)

A Florin (or two shillings):
Worth 24 pennies or pence, or 2/-

Half Crown:
Worth 30 pennies or pence, or two shillings and six pence, or 2/6 or 2&6 pence

Crown:
60 pennies or pence, or a quarter of an English Pound

There was also a Sovereign coin (worth 20 shillings or £1.00, or One English Pound) and a Half Sovereign coin (worth 10 shillings or half an English Pound). But as these were and still are made from 22 carat gold, the face value was worth less than the precious metal itself. Thus, Sovereigns and Half Sovereigns are now sold as gold investments and collector’s items, rather than as day to day currency.

In addition to these coins, there were also Bank Notes issued by the Bank of England for amounts One English Pound and larger.

These coins confused Ace, but she would be even more confused by Harry’s Café price list!

(I will make some screenshots of Harry’s Café menu board and also the coins that so confused Ace, and add these to this blog entry at a later date.)

If Harry’s bacon sandwiches cost one shilling and two pence, this would be written on his menu as 1/2D, also known as one Bob and Tuppence. If they cost one shilling and three pence, then it would be written as 1/3D, also known as One Bob and Thrupence. Two shillings would be known as two Bob.

Their conversation would likely have gone like this…

“Four bacon sandwiches and a cup of coffee; that’ll be two Bob and Thrupence, Miss, if you please.” - Harry
“Yer what!?” – Ace

Considering that The Doctor is an alien from another planet, it begs the question how does he manage to get hold of relevant currency to pay for goods and services on the occasions when he has a need to. Does he use hypnotism to “encourage” people to give him money!? Does he go into a bank with a drawstring bag, hypnotise the cashier into filling up the bag, and then do a runner!? Does he have slightly psychic coinage!?

He could have a supply of 24 carat gold, which he exchanges for currency. (Indeed, in the TV Movie series pilot, we see The Master extract drawstring bags of gold dust from a drawer in the TARDIS library.)