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– Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
The Tower Mint in London struck 455,000 half crowns in 1843, the year Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol. Each showed a young Queen Victoria on the obverse. The half crown (2 shillings, 6 pence) was the equivalent of about 60 cents in U.S. coin at the time.
Also question is, how much was a shilling worth in 1800?
They aren't. In the 1700s, twelve pence equaled a shilling, and twenty shillings a pound.
Hereof, how much was a shilling worth in Dickens time?
According to a comment by Scrooge, Cratchit works for 15 shillings a week at a rate of three pence ("thruppence") an hour for 60 hours per week. Until the decimalization of the British Pound in 1971, one shilling was twelve pence. Thus, fifteen shillings is 180 pence.
Fractionated prices are read as shilling/pence: 2/6 = 2 shillings sixpence or about 68 US cents, equivalent to $15.96 today. 5/- = 5 shillings (no pence) or about $1.35 in the US in 1900, which would be equivalent to $32.40 today.