The 10/6 Mystery

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Some people may not know the meaning of the tag on the famous Hatter hat. What on earth could 10/6 mean?

Until recently I know I didn't!

I've since discovered that the meaning of the cryptic tag was actually just a price.
10 shillings and 6 pence in British currency before it became decimalised. In Carols time a pound was 20 shillings and shillings were twelve pennies or pence.

The pound was represented, as it still is, by a £ sign, the shilling by a 's' and the penny by a 'd'.

The d used to represent a penny was short for 'denarius'. Originally the name for a Roman silver coin it was also the other name the British silver coin was known by.

The next question is why was the tag on the hat he was wearing?

Hatters used to market their produce by wearing it. People often could pick a hatter by noting their bizarre behaviour. This was often confirmed by seeing the tag. If the hat was any good and fairly priced the hatter had a chance of getting a new customer.

So there you have it. The reason for the tag was to indicate further the Hatters occupation.

Here I had been thinking that it was just another little eccentricity.


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