Green’s Dictionary of Slang

thirteener n.

a shilling.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Thirteener. A shilling in Ireland, which there passes for thirteen pence.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1821–5		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 28: Six silver thirteeners my ould father left with me.
1837		R. Barham ‘Barney Maguires Acct. of the Coronation’ Ingoldsby Legends (1889) 173: For the Earl of Surrey, all in his hurry, Throwing the thirteens, hit him in his eye.
1837		Morn. Post 13 Sept. 3/3: Dozens of families without a thirteener.
1841		‘Encore Verses To Barney Brallaghan’ Dublin Comic Songster 193: I’ve got a few thirteens, / Tied up in a stocking.
c.1850		Peeping Tom (London) 40 159/2: I’d sooner drive for nothing, than get a tirteen by driving others.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 434/1: A gintleman once said to me: ‘Here, Pat, [...] Here’s a thirteener for yez’ [...] Sure, thin, wasn’t there a shillin’? For it was a shillin’ he gave me, glory be to God. No, I niver heard it called a thirteener before, but mother has.
1877		‘Town Bellman and Crier’ Laughing Songster 95: Is it a thirteener you mean to charge me for crying the loss of dear Judy!
1883		Newcastle Courant 31 Aug. 2/4: The [...] coin, not infrequently known as a ‘thirteener,’ [was] the usual coin paid to Jack Ketch.
1892		Manchester Courier 24 Oct. 5/5: A shilling is no longer styled a ‘thirteener’.