<p>Have you considered googling the subject? <br>
By doing so I have found: <br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A3sd" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A3sd</a> <br></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>£sd (occasionally written Lsd) is the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies once common throughout Europe, especially in the British Isles and hence in several countries of the British Empire and subsequently the Commonwealth. [...] In the classical Roman Empire, standard coinage was established to facilitate business transactions. 12 denarii were rated equal to 1 gold solidus – a 4th-century Roman coin that was rare but which still circulated; and, since 240 denarii were cut from one Roman libra of silver 240 denarii, therefore, equalled one pound (livre in France, peso in Spain, etc.). [...] Different monetary systems based on units in ratio 20:1 &amp; 12:1 (L:S &amp; S:D) were widely used in Europe in medieval times. The English name pound is a Germanic adaptation of the Latin phrase libra pondo 'a pound weight'. [...] In writing, there were several conventions for representing amounts of money in pounds, shillings and pence: £2.3s.6d. (two pounds, three shillings and sixpence)</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-13T13:30:43.190Z
Thanks a lot! I had the false impression that this was unique to gold, so I searched for "gold quotation" for hours without success...
haginile
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-13T12:55:29.470Z
2016-05-13T12:55:29.470Z
Giskard
<p>I was looking at some historical references on gold prices over the past century and I noticed that London gold prices are written as "$x$ s. $y$ d" (e.g., '$121 \text{s}. 1.75 \text{d}$'). I'm wondering how I'd go about converting this into pounds. Thanks!</p>

<macroeconomics>
Quoting convention for Gold in the early 1900s
haginile
# Quoting convention for Gold in the early 1900s

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-05-13)

I was looking at some historical references on gold prices over the past century and I noticed that London gold prices are written as "$x$ s. $y$ d" (e.g., '$121 \text{s}. 1.75 \text{d}$'). I'm wondering how I'd go about converting this into pounds. Thanks!

**Tags:** macroeconomics

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-05-13. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Have you considered googling the subject?   
By doing so I have found:   
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A3sd>

> £sd (occasionally written Lsd) is the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies once common throughout Europe, especially in the British Isles and hence in several countries of the British Empire and subsequently the Commonwealth. [...] In the classical Roman Empire, standard coinage was established to facilitate business transactions. 12 denarii were rated equal to 1 gold solidus – a 4th-century Roman coin that was rare but which still circulated; and, since 240 denarii were cut from one Roman libra of silver 240 denarii, therefore, equalled one pound (livre in France, peso in Spain, etc.). [...] Different monetary systems based on units in ratio 20:1 & 12:1 (L:S & S:D) were widely used in Europe in medieval times. The English name pound is a Germanic adaptation of the Latin phrase libra pondo 'a pound weight'. [...] In writing, there were several conventions for representing amounts of money in pounds, shillings and pence: £2.3s.6d. (two pounds, three shillings and sixpence)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks a lot! I had the false impression that this was unique to gold, so I searched for "gold quotation" for hours without success...  

---

