The price tag on the Mad Hatter’s hat in the 1951 film reads 10/6.
The notation comes from Britain’s pre-decimal currency system: 10/6 meant ten shillings and sixpence. The tag is a deliberately comic detail because the Hatter is still wearing a hat marked for sale. Disney retained this distinctive feature from John Tenniel’s illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s original book.
The numbers are often mistaken for a date, a fraction, or a code connected with the tea party. They are a price, traditionally read aloud as “ten and six.” In the older British system, twelve pence made one shilling and twenty shillings made one pound, so 10/6 equaled half a guinea. The same tag appears in visual depictions of the Hatter across many Alice adaptations.