i found this afew weeks ago,its a queen victorian shilling and i remembered a story about the shilling which i'd like to share with you.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was the task of recruiting sergeants to go about the country, each accompanied, as a rule by a drummer boy and sometimes a fifer. When a likely recruit was found, the sergeant on enlisting him, would pay him a shilling as his enrolment bounty. Once the shilling was taken, the young man was deemed in the law to be a soldier. There were many occasions when a possible recruit was still expressing doubts and a common way to overcome them was for the recruiting sergeant to drop a shilling into a pot of beer and press it on the hesitant man. Even a sip at the beer was then construed as taken, or drinking, the King’s Shilling. In Victoria’s day it was of course known as the Queen’s Shilling.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was the task of recruiting sergeants to go about the country, each accompanied, as a rule by a drummer boy and sometimes a fifer. When a likely recruit was found, the sergeant on enlisting him, would pay him a shilling as his enrolment bounty. Once the shilling was taken, the young man was deemed in the law to be a soldier. There were many occasions when a possible recruit was still expressing doubts and a common way to overcome them was for the recruiting sergeant to drop a shilling into a pot of beer and press it on the hesitant man. Even a sip at the beer was then construed as taken, or drinking, the King’s Shilling. In Victoria’s day it was of course known as the Queen’s Shilling.
