Sterling

Every colony counted in pounds, shillings and pence, but its pound was worth less than the English one. Writers added sterling when they meant English money, and currency or the colony's name when they meant local money.

The gap was real and it changed over time. Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704 let a Spanish dollar pass for 6 shillings in the colonies when it was worth 4s. 6d. sterling. In Virginia before the Revolution, a local pound averaged about 85 percent of a pound sterling. A sum marked sterling is worth more than the same figures in local money.