fippenny bit

Noun

 * 1)  The Spanish half real, or one sixteenth of a dollar.

Usage notes

 * Before the Act of Congress, February 21, 1857, caused the adoption of decimal coins and the withdrawal of foreign coinage from circulation, this coin passed for 6&frac14; cents, and was called in New England a fourpence ha'penny or fourpence; in New York a sixpence; in Pennsylvania, Virginia, etc., a fip; and in Louisiana, a picayune.