1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shilling

SHILLING, an English silver coin of the value of twelve pence. The origin of the word is somewhat obscure. There was an Anglo-Saxon coin termed scilling, or scylling, worth about five pence, which is said to be derived from a Teutonic root, skil, to divide, +ling on the analogy of farthing (q.v.). The silver shilling was first struck in 1504, in the reign of Henry VII. In Charles II.’s reign shillings were first issued with milled edges. In George IV.’s reign were issued the so-called “lion shillings,” bearing the royal crest, a crowned lion on a crown, a design reverted to in the coinage of Edward VII. A shilling is token money merely, it is nominally in value the one-twentieth of a pound, but one troy pound of silver is coined into sixty-six shillings, the standard weight of each shilling being 87·27 grains.