Can I, in 1976, make an older person refer to a ‘crown’ when she means 25p? ‘Half-a-crown’, would be okay I think, as well as ‘a shilling’, and 'ten shillings' for 50p - I remember all those being used in the early 70s - but I feel as if ‘crown’ went out of use earlier.

Emma

Emma, I don’t know when crowns were phased out but it was a long time before the seventies. Even before decimal coinage was introduced in 1971 we would have said five shillings or, more colloquially, five bob, rather than crown. Half-a-crown was still a common term until 1971 because it was an actual coin, but the term quickly fell out of use as it wasn’t replaced by a decimal equivalent in the way that the florin, or two-bob-bit was replaced by 10p.

Dee

Dee, thanks for that, confirming what I'd thought. As a child I spent the last three years of old money living in the USA, and never really learned it.

Emma