SHILLING OF EDWARD VI
Shovel-board, or shuffle-board, which some writers confound with slide-thrift, was also played upon a table with coins or flat pieces of metal; but the board was longer and the rules of the game were different.
In 2 Henry IV. (ii. 4. 206), when Falstaff wants Pistol put out of the room, he says to Bardolph: "Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a shove-groat shilling."
In The Merry Wives of Windsor (i. 1. 159), Slender, when asked if Pistol had picked his purse, replies: "Ay, by these gloves, did he ... of seven groats in mill-sixpences and two Edward shovel-boards, that cost me two shillings and twopence apiece." "Edward shovel-boards" were the broad shillings of Edward VI. which were generally used in playing the game. It has been suggested that Slender was a fool to pay two shillings and twopence for a shilling worn smooth; but it is possible that these old coins commanded a premium on account of being in demand for this game. The silver groat (fourpence) was originally used for the purpose, but the shilling, especially of this particular coinage, came to be preferred by players. Taylor the Water Poet makes one of these coins say:—
"You see my face is beardless, smooth, and plain,
Because my sovereign was a child 't is known,
When as he did put on the English crown;
But had my stamp been bearded, as with hair,
Long before this it had been worn out bare;
For why, with me the unthrifts every day,