By contrast, an unskilled tunneller's mate received two shillings and tuppence, while the infantryman in the trenches pocketed a meagre one shilling and threepence.

It worked no hardship on the people’s pocketbooks: only threepence the pound.

The current proposed design is a 12-sided coin similar in shape to the pre-decimalisation threepence piece, more commonly known as the "threepenny bit".