One pound, the currency is worth one pound. (1 pound = $1.6 US dollars) One pound, the weight measurement, is one pound anywhere on Earth. (Europe is on the metric system and pounds can be converted to kilograms, in which case 1 pound = .45 kilograms) With 240 of these pennies to call your own you had one pound, certainly an impressive fortune in the 8th century. Its name comes from the Latin Libra Pondo meaning ‘pound weight’, because its value was the price of a pound weight of silver. Simple! In 1487 the shilling was born, with the pound coin following along just two years later. One pound, the currency is worth one pound. (1 pound = $1.6 US dollars) One pound, the weight measurement, is one pound anywhere on Earth. (Europe is on the metric system and pounds can be converted to kilograms, in which case 1 pound = .45 kilograms)