Currency Rates in the 1770s

Submitted by Steve Baule

The following rates of exchange were used in the colonies during the American Revolution.

	Value in Local Currency
Coins	Pounds Stirling Value Ł s d	Mass. Currency Ł s d	New York Currency Ł s d	Penn. Currency Ł s d	South Carolina Currency Ł s d
Shilling (English)	0 1 0	0 1 4	0 1 6	0 1 6	0 7 0
Crown (French)	0 5 0	0 6 8	0 8 6	0 7 6	1 15 0
Dollar (Spanish)	0 4 6	0 6 0	0 8 0	0 7 6	1 12 6

One pound Stirling (Ł) equalled 20 shillings (s) or 240 pence (d). A British private was paid eight pence Stirling (8d) a day, of which six pence was retained to cover the cost of his rations. Spanish and Continental dollars were made up of 90 cents.

SOURCE:

Special 1776 Issue of Time Magazine issued in July, 1976, for the Bicentennial.