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Learn more. Purpose of Guinea in British monetary history Ask Question. Asked 7 years, 5 months ago. Active 7 years, 5 months ago. Viewed 2k times. Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Financial Wikipedia answers : The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between and See also Bimetallism.
Update This social use was, actually, the reason for guinea's endurance. Improve this answer. I appreciate your answer, I would like to be more specific. By , the price of gold had climbed enough to make the guinea worth 30 shillings. William III answered this inflationary trend by fixing the value of the guinea at 21 shillings, 6 pence in The extra 6 pence were finally lopped off in December , fixing the coin at its traditional value of 21 shillings.
The British never tired of reforming their monetary system, though, and in they introduced a new, improved coin, fixed at the easy-to-use value of 20 shillings—the pound. The guinea survived only in the popular imagination, a shorthand way of saying, "one pound and one shilling.
The humble shilling went the way of all metal on February 15, , when yet another monetary reform act went into effect. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
Fraser Adam, Aberdeen, UK The amount of gold in coinage at any particular time was fixed, however, the value of that same amount of gold could vary. For example, gold coins first struck in, say, , were valued at 22 shillings by, say In , the new 'sovereign' pound coin was introduced. These contained 7. Pound coins struck before retained their premium, but now standardised as 21 shillings.
And yes, the odd shilling was often paid to underlings, such as solictors' clerks - as their part of overall fees. Why guinea? Because the Guinea coast was fabled for its gold, and its name became attached to other things like guinea fowl, and New Guinea. Shillings were made of silver. Differences in the relative value of silver and gold soon meant that the gold guinea became worth more than twenty shillings.
It remained so until decimalization on 15 February , when the pound was divided up as it is still done today. Before decimalization on 15 February , there were twenty 20 shillings per pound. The shilling was subdivided into twelve 12 pennies. The penny was further sub-divided into two halfpennies or four farthings quarter pennies. The symbols ' s ' for shilling and ' d ' for pence derive from the Latin solidus and denarius used in the Middle Ages.
You paid tradesmen, such as a carpenter, in pounds but gentlemen, such as an artist, in guineas. Because the Guinea coast was fabled for its gold, and its name became attached to other things like guinea fowl, and New Guinea. Therefore ceased to be used as such as they became collectors items, for the gold presumably.
I was given 4 gold guinea coins when I was There were pennies to a pound because originally silver penny coins weighed 1 pound 1lb. Less than a Shilling s.
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