Bit Coins

I've been sorting through some silver threepenny bits that my mother-in-law saved from the change when she owned greengrocery shops in North London in the 1930s and 40s. Amongst them was the silver coin on the right, a groat worth four pence. I've heard of a groats, they appear in Shakespeare's and Kipling's works but I didn't realise they were still minted in 1836. The final regular issue of groats was in 1855 as the threepenny piece was more popular and it was felt that there was no need for both. A silver thruppenny bit with the head of a young Queen Victoria is on the left of my image. 

To me a thruppenny bit is the twelve-sided nickel and brass coin which was produced from 1953 -1967.