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A note on the guinea. IIRC, it was originally intended to be a gold one pound coin. However, the value of gold went up just when it was issued so it was revalue
by goodcanadian 4y ago
A note on the guinea. IIRC, it was originally intended to be a gold one pound coin. However, the value of gold went up just when it was issued so it was revalued higher by adding the extra shilling. I imagine the extra prestige associated with it was mostly about it being gold.
- secondcoming 4y agoIt’s still used in horse racing.
- dmurray 4y agoI've variously heard it was a 5% commission for the groom, jockey, or auctioneer. If a horse won a 100 guinea prize, the owner conventionally got 100 pounds and someone else got 100 shillings in commission.
- bolanyo 4y agoI don't know about this aspect, but horse sales typically involved this type of commission. The buyer would pay in guineas (or £1.05 times the nominal purchase price) and the seller would receive that number of pounds, with the extra going to the auctioneer. I'm not sure if this system persists now, but it definitely lasted long past decimalization.
- walnutclosefarm 4y agoAnd oddly, in auctions for farm animals. If you go to buy a bull at an auction mart, you bid guineas, not pounds.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bolanyo 4y agoIn fact, a shilling was defined in terms of silver ('sterling silver' gives us the 'pound sterling'), so it was a bimetallic system.