from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Fippenny bit \Fip"pen*ny bit`\ (? or ?). [Corruption of five
penny bit.]
The Spanish half real, or one sixteenth of a dollar, -- so
called in Pennsylvania and the adjacent States. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Note: Before the act of Congress, Feb. 21, 1857, caused the
adoption of decimal coins and the withdrawal of foreign
coinage from circulation, this coin passed currently
for 61/4 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.
[1913 Webster]