These are a type of shorthand for prices prior to decimalisation of British currency. Pre-decimalisation, prices were in pounds, shillings and pe nce, as opposed to pounds and pence, as is now the case. 16/- was sixt een shillings, 13/6 was thirteen shillings and sixpence and 17/11 was sev enteen shillings and elevenpence. In this shorthand, prices over one pou nd were expressed in shillings, so 27/6 was one pound, seven shillings and sixpence.
At that time, there were twenty shillings in a pound, and twelve pence in a shilling. At the time of changeover to decimalisation, one new penn y was equal to 2.4 old pennies (because there were 240 old pennies in a pou nd and 100 new ones).
Prices could also be expressed using the designations "£", "s" and "d" , e.g., 16s was sixteen shillings, 13s 6d was thirteen shillings and sixpence and £1 7s 6d was one pound, seven shillings and sixpence.
As a matter of interest (or not!) the £ sign is derived from the letter " L", from the Latin "libra", and the designation "lb", meaning a pound in weight, is also an abbreviation of "libra". The abbreviation which u sed to be used for shillings, "s" is from the Latin coin, "sesterce", and abbreviation for pence, "d", is from the Latin coin, "denarius".
Neil Foddering Weymouth, Dorset, England
> Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:13:54 -0500
> From: dima@rogers.com
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]Making sense of old British prices
>
> Hi,
>
> In a British catalog from 1950-ies I see prices such as "16/-" or
> "13/6" or "17/11". Could some kind soul explain to me what do those
> numbers mean? Thanks.
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Dmitry Yaitskov,
> Toronto, Canada.