Currency - why is/was there 21 guinea to a pound?

Answer 1

There are 21 shillings to a guinea and 20 shillings to a pound.

This is because the edges of the silver coins used to be shaved off to make a little extra silver.

An extra shilling was added to a pound to make a guinea, ensuring a pounds worth of silver was really handed over.

Answer 2

The first guinea was produced on 6 February 1663, and was made legal currency by a Proclamation of 27 March 1663. 44½ guineas would be made from one Troy pound of 11/12 finest gold, each weighing 129.4 grains. The denomination was originally worth one pound, or twenty shillings, but an increase in the price of gold during Charles II's reign led to it being traded at a premium. In 1670 the weight of the coin was reduced from 8.4–8.5 g to 8.3–8.4 g, but the price of gold continued to increase, and by the 1680s the coin was worth 22 shillings. The diameter of the coin was 25 millimetres throughout Charles II's reign, and the average gold content (from an assay done in 1773) was 0.9100. "Guinea" was not an official name for the coin, but much of the gold used to produce the early coins came from Guinea in Africa, the Africa Company having a charter which allowed them to put their symbol, an elephant or later an elephant and castle, beneath the king's effigy on the coins, and the term "guinea" originated from this. The coin was produced each year between 1663 and 1684, with the elephant appearing on some coins each year from 1663–1665 and 1668, and the elephant and castle on some coins from 1674 onwards.

In the Great Recoinage of 1816, the guinea was replaced as the major unit of currency by the pound.

Even after the coin ceased to circulate, the name was long used to indicate the amount of 21 shillings (£1.05 in decimalised currency). The guinea had an aristocratic overtone; professional fees and payment for land, horses and art were often quoted in guineas until decimalisation in 1971. It is still quoted in the pricing and sale of racehorses, and many major horse races in both Great Britain and Ireland bear names ending in "1,000 Guineas" or "2,000 Guineas," even though the values of their purses today are much higher.

Answer 3

A guinea was a gold coin worth one pound and one shilling in the days when a pound (twenty shillings) was represented by the sovereign, another gold coin. By charging in guineas, a person could make more money than by charging in sovereigns. If you've read the book "Alice in Wonderland", you may remember that the Mad Hatter's hat was priced half a guinea (10 shillings and sixpence).

Answer 4

21 guinea pigs for a pound maybe

Answer 5

Well done Coppers, when you balls something up you make a good job of it. Your question mixes up Guinea's, pounds and shillings until it becomes meaningless. I hope you don't work in a bank!!!!!