TThe British currency units were used. These were the pound (£), the shilling (s) and the pence (d). A pound was equal to 20 s or 240 d and a shilling was worth 12 pence. There were also halfpennies and farthings, which were 4 of a pence.
Penny = pence
Tuppence is not a coin, but tuppence was commonly pronounced "tuppence".
Threpenny bit = 3 pence
Sixpence or tanner = 6 pence
Shilling or bob = 1 schilling
Half-crown = 2 shillings and 6 pence
Crown = 5 shillings
Half sovereign = 10 shillings (gold)
Sovereign = 1 pound (gold)
Quid = slang for a pound
Guinea = 21 shillings = 1 pound and 1 shilling
Due to British policy, there was very little money in circulation in colonial America. The English
law forbade the official export of money to the colonies. Therefore the colonists used foreign money,
above all the piece of eight (Spanish eight reales) which was called the dollar (from the German taler,
called daalder in Dutch), but also wampum or tobacco for exchange. For British goods, however, the
colonial merchants needed silver.
The value of a dollar was 54 pence, equivalent to 4 shillings and 6 pence. When the colonies
began to mint their own silver coins in 1652, they reduced the British sterling standard
which meant that the monetary units had a different value in the different colonies and did not
with Great Britain. In fact, the shillings from Great Britain, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and
Virginia had a different value.
In the later colonial period the value of a Spanish dollar (piece of eight) was
4s6d British = 6s Massachusetts = 7s6d Pennsylvania = 8s New York.
A fine ounce of gold was
4p in 1670, 4p13s in 1700 and 4p5s in 1770. (Today price April 2006 the fine ounce
is about 600 $)
Even impossible to compare the following list may help to get an idea of the worth of goods in the old days.
1670 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 276 or $ 212 in 2006
1680 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 273 or $ 212 in 2006
1690 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 315 or $ 263 in 2006
1700 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 281 or $ 250 in 2006
1710 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 247 or $ 294 in 2006
1720 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 286 or $ 303 in 2006
1730 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 302 or $ 294 in 2006
1740 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 248 or $ 357 in 2006
1750 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 299 or $ 277 in 2006
1760 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 303 or $ 263 in 2006
1770 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 229 or $ 232 in 2006
1780 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 221 or $ 140 in 2006
1790 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 201 or $ 212 in 2006
1800 2 pound 5 shilling ($10) gives a purchase power of £ 112 or $ 153 in 2006
Skins were accepted as a means of payment for goods. Beaver pelts "Made-Beaver (MBr or MB)" were a so-called standard.
1 MBr = 0 pounds / 9 shilling / 8 pences or, with reference to the table above, which says that £2:5:0 = $10, so about $2.15.
The following comparative fur values were used in the 18th century:
1 Parchment Moose = 2 MBr
1 Drest Moose = 1 1/2 MBr
1 Red Deer = 1 MBr
1 Bear = 2 MBr
1 Wolfe = 2 MBr
1 Catt = 1 MBr
1 Wolverine (they called it quaquehatch) = 2 MBr
1 Black Fox = 3 MBr
1 Grey Fox = 2 MBr
1 Red Fox = 1 MBr
2 Otters = 1 MBr
3 Martins = 1 MBr
