Values

The chart below gives comparative values of both the gold and silver denominations available in 1350 during the reign of Edward III. In the final column is an indicator of the relative value or spending power of the medieval coin in today's money based on figures from the Bank of England .

  Noble ½-Noble ¼-Noble Groat ½-groat Penny ½-penny Farthing Modern
equivalent
Noble 1 2 4 20 40 80 160 320 £56.43
½-Noble - 1 2 10 20 40 80 160 £28.22
¼-Noble - - 1 5 10 20 40 80 £14.11
Groat - - - 1 2 4 8 16 £7.05
½-groat - - - - 1 2 4 8 £.3.53
Penny - - - - - 1 2 4 £1.76
½-penny - - - - - - 1 2 £0.88
Farthing - - - - - - - 1 £0.44

The cost of goods and services in around 1350

  • Average pay for a carpenter: 4 ¼ d.
  • Bull: 7 s. 8 d.
  • Cart-horse: 24 s. 7 d.
  • Sow: 3 s. 9 d.
  • Lamb: 4 d.
  • Hens: 2 d.
  • Geese: 3 3/8 d.
  • Pigeons (12): 4 ¼ d.
  • 7 lb clove of wool: 1 s. 6 d.
  • Gallon of butter: 8 ½ d.
  • 100 eggs: 4 ¾ d.
  • 12 lbs candles: 1 s. 10 d.
  • 252 gallons of cider: 13 s. 5 ½ d.
  • 12 gallons of imported wine: 10 s. 1 ½ d.
  • Apples (qr).: 7 d.
  • Charcoal (qr).: 7 ½ d.
  • Salt (bushel): 1 s. 2 ¼ d.
  • Iron (25 esperducts): 20 s. ½ d.
  • 100 nails: 6 ¼ d.
  • 100 horseshoes: 8 s. 9 d.
  • Wheel: 5 s. 9 ½ d.
  • 12 ells table linen: 4 s.
  • 1 gallon of imported oil: 1 s. 4 ¾ d.
  • lb of pepper: 2 s. 6 d.
  • lb of sugar: 1 s. 2 d.
  • lb of almonds: 2 ¼ d.
  • lb of ginger: 1 s. 9 ¼ d.
  • lb of saffron: 15 s.
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