sixpence.

About sixpence

The sixpence coin was a subdivision of the pre-decimal Irish pound, worth 1⁄40 of a pound or 1⁄2 of a shilling. The Irish name réal is derived from the Spanish real; for most of the 19th century, a pound sterling was equal to five U.S. dollars, and a dollar was equal to eight reales, so that a real was equal to 1⁄40 of a pound. The variant spelling reul was used in the Coinage Act 1926, and appeared on the coins themselves even after a 1947 spelling reform established réal as the standard.