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
Halfpenny (British pre-decimal coin) early reign of Elizabeth II, bearing the inscription in 1953, and thereafter. wikt:ha'porth: Northern British English, from British English "half-penny’s worth", often used in the phrase "daft ha’porth". Halfpenny (British pre-decimal coin) The British pre-decimal halfpenny (d) coin, usually simply known as a halfpenny (pronounced ), historically occasionally also as the obol, was a unit of currency that equalled half of a penny or of a pound sterling. Originally the halfpenny was minted in copper, but after 1860 it was minted in bronze. It ceased to be legal tender in 1969, in the run-up to decimalisation. The halfpenny featured two