Shilling (English coin)

The English shilling was a silver coin of the Kingdom of England, when first introduced known as the testoon. It remained in circulation until it became the British shilling as the result of the Union of England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.

There were twenty shillings to the pound sterling and twelve pence to the shilling, and thus 240 pence to the pound.

The word shilling originates in the schilling (mean division ), an accounting term dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, to mean a 20th of a pound, although there was no specific coin of that value. The abbreviation s probably referred to the Norse (then English, German,etc.) name, and not to Latin solidus. The latins may have used a similar scheme, but the naming is mere coincidence.

In the Kingdom of England, during the reign of Henry VII, the forerunner of the shilling, the testoon, was introduced. This coin was produced in extremely small quantities, probably around 1489, and the fact that there are only three known dies for this issue (and three subsequent legend varieties, HENRIC, HENRIC VII and HENRIC SEPTIM) shows clearly that the coins were not made for general circulation. The HENRIC SEPTIM legend is the rarest and a high rarity also being one of the first testoons. They were made during the same period as the trials for the Profile issue of groats and half-groats, so they were probably trial pieces or patterns.

In the Kingdom of Scotland, during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, the testoon and half testoon were introduced to the Scottish coinage in 1553 and 1555 respectively. The 1553 is a Scottish rarity and Mary was presented with one (this piece was EF which sold for 61 gbp during the 1850s Thornburn).

The testoon was struck in quantity during the last part of the reign of Henry VIII, with The Tower, Southwark, and Bristol mints producing testoons in 1544–1551. These testoons were made in the very poor base silver in this period, and are known as base testoons. The coins were struck after Henry's death in 1547, at The Tower, Southwark, and at Bristol. Legend BRISTOLLIE and BRISTOLIE on reverse. BRISTOLIE are extremely rare and were struck pre and post death Henry VIII 1547 with WS monogram in legend. [one was recorded pre WW2 at 6.89gms fully round, said to be from BRISTOL used as evidence at the trial of William Sharington]

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