"George" george@least wrote:

Even earlier. Denarius, a Roman penny.

Trust me to get the wrong Millenium! But hey, there were Romans in
Britain. )


I've heard two stories, one that they were so many pence per hundred,
the other that they weighed so many pounds per hundred. Of the two,
the first sounds more likely.

"Lobby Dosser" wrote in message
news:%iJcd.2404$5l3.1808@trnddc02...
Greg G. wrote:

guitarpick said:

i've always been curious to know how the sizing of nails in
hardware stores came about. hopefully you tool experts can help me
out. who came up with the system, where did it come about, when,
etc. thanks.

The system of 16d, 8d etc was based on the cost of the nails.
16 penny, 8 penney was later replaced with d.
Exactly when, I'm not sure, but I think it was sometime in the late
1800s in the USA.

FWIW,

Greg G.


'd' was the British symbol for penny. I think it was much earlier
than the late 1800s. May even have been as early as 16th century?