NEWS STORY
Posted: 05/11/2003 10:34:22

The King's Shilling

Legend of the Press Gang

Recruits to the Royal Navy used to be paid a signing-on Bounty of One Shilling, committing them to service. Press Gangs of unscrupulous recruiting officers tricked men into accepting the King's Shilling by giving them a pint of beer with a shilling concealed in it. Reputedly glass-bottomed tankards were developed to combat the practice and the lure of the King's Shilling was eventually abandoned by the British Government in 1879.

The coin displayed above is a King's Shilling (reverse detail) from 1787 and the reign of King George III.

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