Validity of Old Coins
All pre-decimal coins (except for certain non-circulating coins such as sovereigns and double florins which were explicitly excluded from demonetisation) are now no longer legal tender. Public outcry at the proposed demise of the old sixpence (6d), worth exactly 2½p and originally slated for early withdrawal, postponed its withdrawal until June 1980.
Shillings and florins, together with their same-sized 5p and 10p coin equivalents, co-existed in circulation as valid currency until the early 1990s. In theory this included coins dating back to 1816; in practice the oldest were dated 1947 when these values stopped containing silver. The coins were withdrawn when smaller 5p and 10p coins were introduced in 1990 and 1992 respectively.
The face value of Maundy money coins was maintained, effectively increasing all their face values by a factor of 2.4, as the coins continued to be legal tender as new pence. The numismatic value of each coin, though, greatly exceeds face value.
Read more about this topic: Decimal Day
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