John Bull Wants His Change Trivia Quiz

Answer: Guinea

While the guinea was minted from 1663 to 1814, the value was initially set at twenty shillings. Over the next half century the value fluctuated between twenty and thirty shillings before being set at twenty-one shillings in 1717. The size and weight of the coin varied slightly over the years but was usually between 24 and 26 millimeters in diameter and about 8.3 to 8.5 grams in weight.

The coin was approximately 91% gold. While the coin is no longer issued for circulation, prices for certain things including luxury items are sometimes expressed in guineas rather than pounds.

The guinea (after 1717) was worth more than the pound (21 shillings rather than 20 shillings).

Answer: Pound

There were 20 shillings or 240 pence in a pound. The pound was originally known as the sovereign and was first introduced during the reign of Henry VII. Later known as a unite than a ryal, the coin was replaced in the 1660s by the guinea. Reintroduced in 1817, the coins name was then changed to the pound.

The pound coins were 22K gold coins weighing about eight grams and about 22 millimeters in diameter. The golden pound coin was last issued for circulation in 1925. During a large part of the 20th century, the pound was a bank note.

A nickel-brass pound coin (as a part of decimalized coinage) was first issued in 1983.

Answer: Crown

A crown was worth five shillings or one-fourth of a pound. When it was first introduced during the reign of Henry VIII, the crown was a gold coin. Although the first silver crown was minted during the reign of Edward VI, there were periodic issues of gold crowns into the 1600s.

By the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the crown was a large silver coin weighing about 29-30 grams and measuring about 38-40 millimeters in diameter. The crown represented a huge amount of money at the time when the average working man had a daily wage that could be measured in two or three shillings. Like many silver coins, the crown was first reduced from 91.7% silver to 50% silver after World War One and then to copper-nickel after World War Two. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the crown was becoming less and less common in circulation.

Answer: Florin

A florin was worth two shillings or one-tenth of a pound. It is actually the newest of these coins, first being minted in 1848 as part of an early attempt to decimaluze the British monetary system. A double florid, worth four shillings, was also minted from 1887 to 1890.

The florid was one of the last two of these coins to circulate. Beginning in 1971, Britain issued a decimal series of coins where one pound was subdivided into 100 pence. Florins (with a value of 10 new pence) were considered legal tender until the early 1990s. During most of their years of issuance, florins were silver coins weighing 11.3 grams and measuring 28-29 millimeters in diameter.

Answer: Shilling

There were 20 shillings in a pound and 12 pence in a shilling. The shilling, first known as the testoon, was first issued during the reign of Henry VII. By the reign of Edward VI, the testoon was renamed the shilling. By the late seventeenth century, the shilling was a silver coin weighing about six grams and measuring 25-26 millimeters in diameter. During the reigns of George VI and Elizabeth II, shillings were issued both Scottish and English reverses.

After decimalization in 1971, the shilling continued to be a legal tender coin (at the value of five New pence) until the early 1990s.

Answer: "Tanner"

The term "tanner" was not an official term, but a commonly used slang term for a sixpence coin. The coin was worth half of a shilling or one-fortieth of a pound. The silver six pence was introduced during the reign of Edward VI. Legend says that during the later 1500s, men who could not afford an engagement ring for their betrothed would bend a six pence to serve that purpose.

In the nineteenth century, the shilling was a silver coin weighing about 2.8 grams and measuring about 19 millimeters in diameter.

Answer: Groat

A groat has a value of four pence. There were three frosts in a shilling or sixty frosts in a pound. There are three groats in a shilling or sixty groats in a pound. The groat or "great" coin was introduced during the reign of Edward I as an aid to facilitating the increasing amounts of trade with which England was involved. During the nineteenth century, the groat was gradually replaced by three pence coins. Most four pence coins issued after the reign of George III were issued as part of so-called Maundy sets distributed by the King or Queen.

Some four pence coins were issued for use in some British colonies.

Answer: Penny

The plural of penny is pence. There are 12 pence in a shilling or 240 pence in a pound. The penny was introduced during the reign of King Offa of Mercia in the eighth century AD. The penny was the primary workhorse coin of the English economy until the thirteenth century.

The abbreviation "d" used with the penny before 1971 comes from the Roman coin the denarius. Like the denarius, the medieval penny was a small silver coin. The first copper penny in Britain was issued in 1797, replaced by the bronze penny in 1860.

The bronze penny weighed about 9.4 grams and measured 31 millimeters in diameter. The new penny was introduced in 1971 as part of decimalization with one new penny equal to 2.4 old pennies.

Answer: Farthing

A farthing was valued at one-quarter of a penny. There were 48 farthing in a shilling or 960 farthing in a pound. While the farthing as a coin was first produced in the thirteenth century, during much of the Medieval period, half pennies and farthing were produced--often at the mints themselves--by halving and/or quarreling pennies.

The original farthing coins were very small silver coins. During the reign of James I of England (VI of Scotland), the first copper farthing (and half pennies) were introduced in England.

They had been previously introduced in Scotland. Bronze farthing were introduced in the nineteenth century. Farthing as a denomination were demonetized in 1960.

Answer: Mite

Britain or England never issued a coin with a value of a mite, but the term was used for accounting purposes from the Anglo-Saxon period until the time of the Tudor Dynasty. The term was adapted from the Biblical story of the poor widow who only had two small coins referred to as mites.

In English coinage, a mite was considered one-sixth of a farthing. This would mean there were 24 mites in a penny, 284 mites in a shilling, or 5,680 mites in a pound. Which coin was the smallest denomination English/British coin depends on your definition.

The Royal Mint issued a coin worth a half farthing (three mites) in the 19th Century for use in Britain. It also issued, however, coins denominated one-third farthing and one-quarter farthing (two mites and one and one-half mites) for use in various British colonies, that were identical in style to the half-farthing and one farthing coins.