Penny (British pre-decimal coin)

One old penny

United Kingdom
Value	1d
Mass	(Bronze) 9.4 g
Diameter	(Bronze) 31 mm
Edge	Plain
Composition	(1707–1796) Silver (1797–1859) Copper (1860–1970) Bronze
Years of minting	1707–1970
Obverse
Design	Profile of the monarch (Elizabeth II design shown)
Reverse
Design	Britannia
Designer	Leonard Charles Wyon
Design date	1936

The British pre-decimal penny was a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1⁄240 of one pound or 1⁄12 of one shilling. Its symbol was d, from the Roman denarius. It was a continuation of the earlier English penny, and in Scotland it had the same monetary value as one pre-1707 Scottish shilling. The penny was originally minted in silver, but from the late 18th century it was minted in copper, and then after 1860 in bronze.

The plural of "penny" is "pence" (often added as an unstressed suffix) when referring to an amount of money, and "pennies" when referring to a number of coins.^[1] Thus 8d is eightpence or eight pence, but "eight pennies" means specifically eight individual penny coins.

Before Decimal Day in 1971, sterling used the Carolingian monetary system (£sd), under which the largest unit was a pound (£) divisible into 20 shillings (s), each of 12 pence (d).

The penny was withdrawn in 1971 due to decimalisation, and replaced (in effect) by the decimal half new penny, with +1⁄2p being worth 1.2d.