Pounds, Shillings, Guineas and Florines

[guiri]

Guys, I am not a collector but I signed on here to get a question answered as it gets on my nerves not to know certain things.

I occasionally watch tv shows that are set 100 years ago or more in some part of the British empire and the coinage
(since I dont' understand it) gets on my nerves and I'm tired of being ignorant.

Right now I kind of ran out of things to watch so I'm watching The Onedine Line and of course, it's all about money

and I'm all confused.

Can you guys tell me what's what, how many shillings to a pound, etc.

I've heard Pounds, Shillings, Guineas and Florines but I have no idea what's what.

I'm assuming the pound is the highest but then dont' know if it's shilling or guinea and if so, how many to a pound, etc.

Can you guys help and please, try to keep it simple. I really, really have a hard time with written explanations.

I don't suppose that there is some kind of chart that shows them all laid out showing how many shillings to a pound and all that?

I know that not too long ago this changed and I seem to recall there being 12 shillings to a pound but for sake of this post, let's

keep this to around 1850's or so...at least for now.

Thanks

George

[Peter]

Hi George

I will start with the highest value.

Guineas = 21 shillings

£1 = 20 shillings

Crown = 5 shillings

Half Crown = 2 1/2 shillings

Florin = 2 shillings

Shilling = 1 shilling

Sixpence = 1/2 shilling

Threepence = 1/4 shilling

Penny = 240 to the £1

Halfpenny = 480 to the £1

Farthing = 960 to the £1

The maths on the above should be straight forward.

I hope this helps.

[guiri]

Yes it does and thanks but let me ask you, why the hell would you have a coin that's worth 21 shillings and one that's worth 20 shillings? Ie, pound and guinea?

Was one added for some reason and the previous one just stayed around or what?

Thanks

George

[Rob]

The guinea started life as a 20/- coin during the reign of Charles II. The price of gold fluctuated rising as high as 30/- for a guinea even though the weight remained the same due to the relationship with the price of silver. i.e. you had effectively two standards which didn't follow each other in price. Historically, since Saxon times the standard was set by the price of silver. Eventually we went onto the gold standard and the guinea was set at 21/-. It remained so until the introduction of the sovereign in 1817 which became the new standard of 20/- (one pound) with a compensating reduction in weight equal to one pound and guinea production ceased. The last issue was the military guinea of 1813.

I was going to write this earlier, but you said you didn't want a complicated answer.

Edited November 27, 2015 by Rob

[TomGoodheart]

For some reason the habit of pricing things in guineas continued long after the actual coin went out of circulation ... I remember it even in the 1960s.

Whether it sounded posher (it seemed to continue longer in stores like Harrods and for more expensive items), or was a bit like the current habit of large prices being quoted in single numbers ("Only two, nine, nine!" when we all know it's basically £300..) and you had to remember to add in an extra shilling to every pound, I'm not sure ...

.

[azda]

Isn't horse racing still called the 1000 guineas? Or a particular race

[Gary1000]

I think as horse auctions the horses are still priced in Guineas.

[Paulus]

Isn't horse racing still called the 1000 guineas? Or a particular race

Yes, there is still a classic called the 1000 Guineas, and another called the 2000 Guineas - just historic names I think, from when that was the prize money

[Paulus]

There are other English pre decimal coins too, other than the ones Peter listed.

May be worth mentioning the Groat (4d - 1/3 of a shilling) and the Half Groat (2d)

[PWA 1967]

I think as horse auctions the horses are still priced in Guineas.

Yes all race horses are auctioned in guineas

[Peter]

I took Mrs Peter to the 2000 guineas in 1986 at Newmarket.

Mainly to see Dancing Brave run.

That horse earned me a few £'s that year.

I will never forget the Arc which even my parents lumped on at 9/4.

Worth watching on youtube.

I had just got a light blue Escort Co car.

There must of been 40 in the carpark.

Took nearly 1 hr to find.

[PWA 1967]

We must of all got our money back after the Derby Peter.

Starkey must have had nightmares after for years top jockey but.............

[Peter]

Dancing Brave lost it with Starkey on the day.

Everyone makes mistakes.

DB came roaring back.

His turn of speed was a joy to watch.

[guiri]

Yes, I forgot to mention the Sovereign. So, the sovereign and the pound is the same thing just different names or?

Yes, I'm a bit dense and hence the request for simple things.

As for using an old term, I used to live in southern Spain for years and there they have a 5 pesetas coing which they call duro

and for some reason, they will express prices in duros. Ie, 5 peseta increments.

Something could be veinte duros (20x5=100 pesetas) or for instance mil duros (1000x5=5000 pesetas). Makes no damn sense

but that's how lots of people do it.

I'm not going into the way they REVERSE pronounciation either as that would be hard to explain. Some things just make little sense.

[ozjohn]

I can remember prices in guineas in Australia in newspaper ads for posh shops as late as the 1970s long after the introduction of decimal currency in 1966.

[Mr T]

Was there a symbol for guinea like there is for pound?

[Nordle11]

I assume it's just 21/-

[Rob]

No symbol as far as I'm aware, just use guineas or gn(s)

[VickySilver]

Hmmm, let's not bring back down sums in LSD (nice acronym). Even as late as 1968, we were forced to perform such at The English Middle School in Nicosia. My recall is that "Gn" was used as the shorthand referral to guineas.

[Debbie]

Now you just need to translate a bit, a bob, a pony, a tanner and a bender!

[Peter]

Now you just need to translate a bit, a bob, a pony, a tanner and a bender!

bender

[Debbie]

Apparently .....

Bender = sixpence (6d) Another slang term with origins in the 1800s when the coins were actually solid silver, from the practice of testing authenticity by biting and bending the coin, which would being made of near-pure silver have been softer than the fakes

[Paulus]

If we're doing coin nicknames, there is also the Joey (3d) and the Quid (£1)

[VickySilver]

Darn, beat me to the Joey bit - I believe that was used to also describe the groat in Vicky's time, and particular in Scotland....

[jaggy]

half-crown was also 'half a dollar' (at least in Glasgow)