Decimal Day Board. Consideration was given to introducing a new major unit of currency worth ten shillings in the old currency: suggested names included the "new pound", the "royal" and the "noble". This would have resulted in the "decimal penny" being worth only slightly more than the old penny (this approach was adopted, for example, when South Africa, Australia and New Zealand decimalised in the 1960s, adopting respectively the South African rand, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar equal in value to 10 shillings). But Halsbury decided, in view of the pound sterling's importance as a reserve currency, that the pound should
Virginia pound Virginia pound The pound was the currency of Virginia until 1793. Initially, the British pound sterling circulated along with foreign currencies, supplemented from 1755 by local paper money. Although these notes were denominated in pounds, shillings and pence, they were worth less than sterling, usually discounted so 1 Virginia shilling was equal to 9 British pence, while 1 British shilling was equal to 12 British pence. In British pounds, shillings and pence (£sd), duodecimal coinage (12d (pence) = 1s (shilling), 20s = £1 (pound), 21s = 1 guinea), which was in use in the UK until the adoption of decimal