But when Britons woke up the next morning on D-Day - or decimal day - £1 was worth 100 pence and shillings were replaced with 5p coins. Monday marks 50 years to the day that Britain said goodbye to centuries of shillings, florins and crowns and the decimal currency system was born. But when Britons woke up the next morning on D-Day - or decimal day - £1 was worth 100 pence and shillings were replaced with 5p coins. The oldest 5p coins in circulation are from 1990, the oldest 10p coins from 1992 and 50p coins from 1997. Monday marks 50 years since the new decimal currency system was formally adopted on February 15 1971 - known as Decimal Day.

Source: The Nation February 14, 2021 14:02 UTC