<P> Slang terms for the old shilling coins include "bob" and "hog". While the derivation of "bob" is uncertain, John Camden Hotten in his 1864 Slang Dictionary says the original version was "bobstick" and wonders if it is connected with Sir Robert Walpole . </P> <P> One abbreviation for shilling is s (for solidus, see £ sd). Often it was represented by a solidus symbol ("/"), which may have originally stood for a long s or s, thus 1 / 9 would be one shilling and ninepence (and equivalent to 21 d; the shilling itself was equal to 12 d). A price with no pence was sometimes written with a solidus and a dash: 11 /--. </P> <P> The solidus symbol is still used for the shilling currency unit in former British East Africa, rather than sh . </P> <P> During the Great Recoinage of 1816, the mint was instructed to coin one troy pound (weighing 5760 grains or 373 g) of standard (0.925 fine) silver into 66 shillings, or its equivalent in other denominations . This set the weight of the shilling, and its subsequent decimal replacement 5 new pence coin, at 87.2727 grains or 5.655 grams from 1816 until 1990, when a new smaller 5p coin was introduced . </P>

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