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<div class='featuredimage'><img src='https://coinsnotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Sixpence.jpg' alt='The Sixpence' /></div><br>by Les Kendall<br />
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The Sixpence (half a shilling) was a British silver coin that was first minted 1551 and virtually continuously until decimalisation in 1971.<br />
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It was a popular coin when in circulation and is now popular with collectors as it has a long history and many nice specimens can be obtained at affordable prices.<br />
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They are small coins, the last minted had a diameter of about 19.4 mm.<br />
<h3>A Quick Note About Denomination</h3>
Since decimalisation on 15 February 1971, we (the UK) have £1 = 100p, that is One Pound = 100 pence, but before decimalisation the breakdown was very different.<br />
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While the Pound Sterling was the same, in the pre-Decimal era:<br />
One Pound = 20 shillings = 240 pennies.<br />
Or One shilling = 12 pennies.<br />
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So a sixpence is 6 (old) pennies or half a shilling. One fortieth of a pound.<br />
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In today&apos;s money it would be worth 2½ pence.<br />
<h3>History of the Sixpence</h3>
Silver Sixpences (half a shilling) have been minted since 1551 in the reign of Edward VI, and were minted by every British Monarch since then.<br />
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The sixpence originally appeared due to the debasement of silver coinage prior to 1551.<br />
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<div class='imgwithcaption'><img class="wp-image-13446 size-full" src="https://coinsnotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/1593-Sixpence-Elizabeth-I.-Image-Numisantica-www.numisantica.com_.jpg" alt="1593 Sixpence Elizabeth I." width="800" height="400" /><br> 1593 Sixpence Elizabeth I. Image credit: Numisantica <a href="https://www.numisantica.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.numisantica.com</a></div><br />
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By the mid and late 18th century when Britain was moving through an Industrial revolution there was a huge demand for silver coinage. The French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) made the silver and gold shortages even worse.<br />
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<div class='imgwithcaption'><img class="wp-image-13447 size-full" src="https://coinsnotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/1787-Sixpence.png" alt="1787 Sixpence" width="800" height="402" /><br> 1787 Sixpence, George III.</div><br />
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In the Great Recoinage of 1816 the British Government made a massive attempt to stabilise the currency and the sixpence (with other silver coins) moved to a new standard <em>Sterling Silver</em>, at 0.925 (92.5%) silver.<br />
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Sterling Silver remained the standard until the World Wars took their toll; the sixpence became 50% silver in 1920 and then zero silver in 1946. The coin became cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel).<br />
<h3>It was Known as a Tanner</h3>
The Sixpence coin was more often referred to as a Tanner. Although there is no definitive etymology for this term, the main contender is John Sigismund Tanner (1705-1775) who was Chief Engraver of the Royal Mint during the reign of George II and was the designer of a sixpence.<br />
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The other alternative may be the word derived from a Romany word <em>tawno</em>, meaning small thing.<br />
<h3>Spending Power</h3>
A long time ago a sixpence was also know as a Bender. When it was a thin, silver coin it could actually be bent it with bare hands. You could leave teeth marks in it too!<br />
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In today&apos;s market, 2½ pence is close to worthless, but in the early 1800&apos;s a sixpence was close to half-a-days pay for a labourer. In those days pub prices were quoted in &apos;<em>pints per pence</em>&apos; rather than &apos;<em>pence per pint</em>&apos; so a sixpence had a bit of spending power.<br />
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In Victorian times you could buy enough beer to get drunk with sixpence, which some say led to the British expression of intention to have an inebriated night out as &apos;Going on a bender&apos;.<br />
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<div class='imgwithcaption'><img class="size-large wp-image-13449" src="https://coinsnotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/1899-Sixpence-1024x512.jpg" alt="1899 Sixpence" width="1024" height="512" /><br> 1899 Sixpence Image credit <a href="https://ukcoinco.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ukcoinco.com</a></div><br />
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<em>My thanks to <a href="https://ukcoinco.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ukcoinco.com</a> for providing some of the images for this article. ukcoinco are sellers of sixpences and many other pre-decimal coins.</em><br />
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