In round numbers, if a Pound Sterling was actually worth a pound of silver at current prices, a penny (meaning the original "old money" pre-decimalisation definition as of a measure of weight equal to 1/240th of a pound) would be worth somewhere around $1.80 in Canadian or American dollars. A loaf of bread therefore costs about 2 pennies weight of silver and a (full, Imperial) pint of beer, 5 pennies weight - which is what they cost 100 years ago.